Lubov and the Fall
by Lunarballet
Summary: A young journalist is tasked with researching the public and private lives of the Senators who have the most influence on the public opinion in the Clone wars. Her goal is to rally support against the war, however, she finds herself doubting there is ever going to be something that can solve this never ending war. (Rating for language I use.)
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

**Coruscant 21 BBY (Mid-afternoon) **

"And that is the news for today, see you tomorrow when we conclude our assignment on the newest bill on giving Chancellor Palpatine more power than he already has." The humanoid woman said from behind the holo projector.

When the rest of the world saw this news broadcast there would be more propaganda than actual facts. The whole system of journalism was going to shit because of this war. Nothing seemed to be true outside of what the Holo-net was telling the people of the Galactic Republic.

_It was not as bad as it could be. They could be putting it as if Chancellor Palpatine was the best person for leadership and not some power hungry man using this war as an excuse to gain unlimited power._ The Hapan woman thought to herself.

She had been working for the holonet for over three years now and all that she had learned from working here was that people were more interested in reading about gossip and rumors rather than actual facts. As the war had gone by many articles now featured the Jedi as Hero's that were out there fighting for a reason unknown to her. They preferred reading about how a Jedi had been killed in a tragic accident than a story on the fact that Chancellor Palpatine was abusing the very power their government had given him!

The people of the galaxy were mad... then again many of them had no idea what else to do other than make others look like Gods. It was rather sad to think that people only cared about these stories because the war had made them believe that they could do nothing and those actually fighting were perfect hero's who had been chosen by the Gods themselves to fight for whatever reason it was that the war started.

Stupid really, but there was nothing that she could do about it... unless of course she assassinated Palpatine, which would land her in prison for the rest of her life. Not worth the time of the crime that she would get, plus the fact that perhaps a worse Chancellor could get elected and that would be the end of her.

The most she could do was try to fight the urge to rebel and just hope that when the war is over everything goes back to the way it was before... with democracy of course.

"Hey Freckles! We got a meeting in five." A rude Correllian man said rubbing her head like an animal as he went by.

She sighed and collected her data-pad filled with her notes on the next story she was working on for the next morning's broadcast. The story was just focusing on the recent increase in death among minors in the outer rim territories. An area not yet affected by the war, but at least it would be something people would actually read. The whole story was sad enough as it is, without the fact that some people would not even bother to read it before flipping the page and reading what the newest fashion trends were.

The worst part was the fact that these people were also the ones who paid more attention to articles on the war rather than what was actually happening in those battles. They had enough information to turn the whole galaxy against the war; however, they could not do this because it would show the enemy the weaknesses the Republic has in its military. If that were to happen then democracy as she knew it was more than likely dead.

Most of the more prominent Journalist for the holonet was all older men and women who had been at the same job for years. They controlled what was to be showed and what was not to be shown on the broadcast system and what was going to go out to a holozine. Though this was something she would never complain about she just thought things would be different if someone else was in charge.

"It looks like we are all here." The head of the news broadcast said as he sat down in the chair at the top of the table.

The horrible black table that was covered in interplanetary breaking and progressing news stories. The staff was used to having the moving images on the table and ignored them as best they could while telling the director speak of how the news was going to be distributed. The whole room was covered in old news stories that were the master work of the holonet in the first place, while many of them in the room could not remember or were not born yet, these stories were still what had been notable days in journalism.

When there was the day when she broke a story that big she would be on the wall. It was an honor to be on that wall and one day she would be the writer of those stories.

"Sit down everyone we have much to discuss." The Mon Calamari ordered.

As they took their seats the director put a holographic image of their ratings over the past months. To the average citizen these would look high and average, and they would be right to a certain point-of-view, however their ratings had dropped extremely since the start of the war. Everyone would think these were good if they were not trained in the media, these ratings were terrible they had to get them up within this quarter or else there was no hope of getting them back up. The complications of media were vast, but they would get through this quarter... well at least with a below average rating. As long as they were did not lose fifteen percent of their audience they were in no danger.

"With are ratings rather low since the start of the war, we need to find something more interesting to broadcast to the people. They are sick of this war, and they hear about it all the time. And what person wants to come home and read an article or watch the television where there is only war going on?" The director retorted. "No one, we are pushing this war too far down their throats and we need to give them room to breath. Does anyone know what we can do to get these ratings up?"

The question was a waste of time to be answered because once the boss's mind was made up there was no changing him, no matter if his idea was stupid of not. Last quarter in an attempt to get the ratings up he began to nickname the Jedi, which brought their ratings up, however, their critics did not take light of them making the men and women who were fighting the war were being treated like actors who were doing nothing but being paid to look good. The critics were right to say that they were using the Jedi to the holonet's advantage however, weren't all of them.

The people wanted to see the brave Jedi go into battles with lightsabers in hand and doing nothing but bring down the Separatist movement. And the holonet was giving them this, something to lift their spirits in a time of hardship. If it brought their ratings up they were prepared to do nearly anything.

A female Twi'lek raised her hand to give an idea, she was an intern of course and those were the only ones who ever bothered to raise their hands to give their opinions. The girl would learn with time that they were a business that did not need new ideas rather more ratings using these old ideas that kept being chopped up and sent out to the world. The director let her speak anyway, despite the fact he was going to shoot her down later. Perhaps he was doing this just to get a laugh or something? It was a sick joke to play but all the interns had gone through this.

The girl talked about how she thought it was a good idea to cut back on the hours spent working on war stories. She should not have done that, if they cut the amount of time working on the war they would lose more viewers than they wanted to gain. Her idea was typical of the average citizen, however, they were a business and the war had to be broadcast otherwise the people would become uninterested in watching the shows with the pretty actors and actresses. Before the war started when they were actually using stories that had at least a slight positive image they had tried to at least make it where there would be some politics and a few fun stories on the side. However, though good news would bump up their ratings it was not what the people needed; they needed news of what was really going on not the stories of a man who saved a baby nexu from a three thousand-story building.

"My girl, that was a very interesting idea, however," The director began. "I have already decided on an idea to use. What we need to do is focus more on the private lives of those who are in the government; they cannot all be perfect little politicians. We need those stories that cause controversy, what we need is good undercover journalism to uncover what makes these politicians the way they are. If they are using their power for good or for evil. It will get our ratings up plus we get an inside look at what is really going on in the government. Anyone have anything to add?"

No one dared to raise his or her hands to agree with the idea or argue about it. To argue was to be fired and forced out onto the streets, or worse back into their home world news stations! To agree with the idea was a sign of weakness and if the director sighted weakness there was going to be more pink slips going up than the office could afford. The director did not take too kindly to butt-kissers and if one dared to do anything that looked like it there was going to be hell to pay.

"Good," He said as he flicked the next holo up showing the amount of revenue they were getting. Profits are up at 5% from last quarter and we seem to be going on the same trend we were before the war started. With this we must be cautious not to do anything that might upset our profit margin any further. Furthermore, we must remind ourselves that the more money we make the better the ratings we make. Now what we really need this quarter is to have an increase in profits and as I have explained before my idea on how to get our ratings and profits up from last quarter.

"Now let's move on to something more interesting." He said with what could be counted as a smile. "Assignments, now we cannot have anyone reporting from their home world because some of our home worlds are neutral like Lubov's or Ayo's home worlds. Now we need to think of whom to assign to everyone. Now my idea of course is to assign everyone by home world, but that as stated could not work unless you girls can managed to dig up information on the Duchess of Mandalore or the Queen mother of Hapes?"

Lubov shook her head; there was no way that she was going to do any further research on the Queen Mother. Everyone on Hapes knew who she was and what she did for their planet; no one was truly interested outside of their planet at what she was actually doing. If they were they needed to get a life, or at least stop taking as many death sticks.

"Perhaps then we should assign each of them by their number of articles written about them?" The director questioned. "No, that would not work because their are too many co-authors in here. Hmm... How about this, I want all of you to go home tonight and think about who you would like to represent and report in my office at noon with your ideas."

Everyone nodded, no one in the galaxy would disagree with him unless of course they were desperate to get fired and sent back to their home worlds. Lubov was not going back to Hapes, her family was there, yes, but that did not mean she wanted to go back to the isolation of the planet. Though she could not see at night to actually explore Coruscant at least she wasn't on Hapes with the others, there forever, never to get off of the planet they were born on. She was going to at least live her life to the fullest and if did not matter whether on Coruscant or Hapes, she was not going to stay put and waste her life on doing nothing but listening to their isolated planet had to say.

As the group of Journalist left the room with their datapads in hand ready to upload their articles to the holonet after approval from the editorial staff, and were prepared to leave for home. If there was one thing everyone wanted to do was to go home and start working on his or her roles in the Director's newest "genius" idea. He would of course complain later if the plan failed however, no one would dare to say anything about how the plan was his idea in the first place and had nothing to do with him or her. Either way someone would get up fired and forced to live on the streets... or worse go back to running their local stations.

Lubov handed in her document on the three month long research into the recent increase of death in minors. She had concluded that it was the fact that with the war, there is less aids to those who need the medicine the most. People are too focused on fighting battles and winning war than the people that are being lost in these battles or the people that are being lost as a direct result of the war.

The war was destroying the Republic and it had hardly been a year of fighting and now here they were with the death tolls nearly as high as the holonet's last quarter ratings. Lubov had been taught that people were good and that they could do good things; but with this war there was no good, all there was, was death and destruction. The good in people was fading fast and if this war was not won soon there was something horrible that was going to happen.

She could feel a fall close by; she did not know when it was going to happen. All she knew was that the fall was there and that if she or the others did not notice it then the Republic would cease to excists.


	2. Chapter 2

Now let me say this, I got really bored over the weekend and just started writing this story. I have no plan for this so if this turns into something really shitty oh well. I just wrote this because I was bored out of my mind! Anyway, enkoy reading.

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**Chapter 1**

**Coruscant, 21 BBY (morning) **

_Lubov meet me in my office by nine this morning. We have to discuss your recent article submission. _

_-Rufus T. Firefly_

"What have I done now?" Lubov asked herself.

She found herself asking herself the same question every time the editors wanted her to speak about her source material or about how opinionated her articles were. Her opinions were only reflected on her editorial pieces, though for the most recent article perhaps she had crossed the line when it came to focusing on how the republic was not helping the dying children in the outer rim?

The articles that she had written before were always unbiased when ever they asked her to be unbiased and surely they would not hold that against her? Perhaps they would and she would end up on the next ship ride back to Hapes. And when she got back to Hapes her mother would tell her all about how going to Coruscant was a stupid mistake and how she should have just stayed in Hapes and gotten a job at the university rather than become a Journalist. Her mother would be right of course if she were fired, if being the most important word.

Perhaps this was congratulation on the article… that couldn't be it. Whether or not the cause was to fire her or congratulate her she had to get to work and find out what the hell was going on. Otherwise she would end up fired from her position; or worse demoted back to coffee maid!

The morning Coruscanti traffic as always was horrible; then again traffic on this planet was always horrific. For Lubov the heavy traffic would mean being slightly delayed at getting to her meeting with Mr. Firefly.

Lubov sat down on her seat in the small bus that carried some of the citizens of Coruscant to work everyday. Most of them were rather middle class people who could afford the extra ten credits to ride to and fro work in the day. The average person could afford a hover vehicle, but these people had decided to go without.

The average citizen seemed to be oblivious to what was going on outside of the planet other than politics and what the holonet showed them. They were blind for the most part at what was actually going on in the galaxy. How corrupt everything had become, how low people were beginning to step just to get what they wanted and all the while people still treated the war as their own personal holo-drama.

As she stared down at her data pad there was another message from Mr. Firefly that had recently been sent. This was not good; they never sent her more than one message. She wasn't even late yet! And here he was with a message to her probably telling her that she was fired and that she would have to come back into work just to collect her things.

_Lubov, sorry about the message earlier, what I need from you is the source material of the latest hospital report from the little boy from Bazaar. We need to make sure we have photographs of him and his sister for the cover of the article. Please send these to me promptly. _

_-Rufus T. Firefly_

"Oh thank the Gods!" She managed to say through the flood of relief that was covering the young woman.

Lubov set out to work out and get the photographs and the hospital reports to Mr. Firefly. Though the chances of getting them quickly was going to be difficult of course since Bazaar was so far away and their access to the holonet was unstable to say the least. Their chances of actually getting the article out today were slimming, but they would get it out.

She would show the galaxy that the war was destroying the lives of the people affected by the war. The sympathy article would get done and after the article had been released there was no stopping her reach to promote more aid to the citizens affected by the war. The sympathy would promote, or at least she hoped would promote, popular opinion of the war to decrease farther than it already had within the past several months.

Everything she had planned, or at least wanted to happen was going to happen, all she had to do was get that article published.

As Lubov made her way into the office building she was met with hundreds of office workers there already writing or researching for their next article, or for something they wrote to be put on the broadcast system. Their chances were about the same as hers to get published, however, the chances of her being published now was far greater than anyone who had come in sooner than she.

_Dr. Aren't I am sorry to bother you again but this is Lubov Makarova from the holonet main broadcasting station from Coruscant. Currently the article I am working on running is unable to be published until I get the source material for the little boy I interviewed and the photographs of himself and his sister. This is needed urgently for the sake of the children please sent these photographs and reports in immediately. _

_-Lubov Makarova _

As she sent the message she knew that the chances of an immediate reply were slim. Her work in helping the galaxy began as soon as the article was published; and so far the galaxy was moving on without her stopped by constant red tape.

"Hey Freckles," The Correllian man said from behind her.

As she jumped she was tempted to slap the shit out of the man for daring to disturb her work. This man was beginning to drive her mad; he had to be new otherwise she would have seen him before. He was probably from a local broadcasting station somewhere in the middle of nowhere and had gotten a chance to come here in hopes of making it big. Now he annoyed her for shits and giggles.

"What is it?" Lubov asked as kindly as possible.

"Nothing really, just needed someone to talk to really," He said as he stole a chair from the Gran female that sat across from Lubov. "Nothing much to do around here other than write and research, reminds me so much of school. Force do I hate school."

He tilted his head to the side and smiled, obviously a young, human male to think he can seduce any woman into having sex with him. What a bastard. The men that are not from Hapes have not been taught properly on how they are supposed to act and how they are supposed to treat women. And of course he would never learn because no one has ever heard of Hapes in the office; or at least those who did not see the women of Hapes as extremely beautiful.

Most of the human males and every other species in the galaxy would agree with the fact the only thing they knew of Hapes was that it was isolated and the fact the women of the planet were absolutely beautiful. And that was all they knew, not what the world was like, or how things were run, just how beautiful the women were.

"You have to get used to working otherwise you will end up like all the other failed interns." She warned.

The young male got to the edge of his seat with wide eyes and asked, "What happens to them? Does Mr. Firefly eat them?"

He was trying to make her laugh, he had succeeded, and however, his chances of doing anything else to her were slim. He was rather clueless to her preferences in relationships or the fact that she was uninterested in males in the first place. He would learn of course when he met her girlfriend back home on Hapes.

"No," Lubov giggled. "What I mean is that they end up back on their home planets doing the local news!"

"The local news?" He asked.

"Yes, that is where all the failed reporters go." She said to him softly as if the information was top secret. "They will send you there if you are not good enough to be a full time journalist. It is hell trust me, be good and stay in school or else!"

He smiled at her with a rather cocky grin. "I will try to remember that next time I want to spit in his coffee."

"Don't worry," She told him. "We all have done that."

He just nodded and put his hand out in front of her and introduced himself as Artier Mills, from Correllia of course. He told her that he was twenty-three and had just graduated from a University of Journalism on some core world he could not remember. He seemed to not even be interested in learning about how things were run around here. he seemed more interested in talking about himself and what he hopes to do with his life.

Lubov said nothing other than the fact that she needed to get back to work before Mr. Firefly catches her goofing off and not getting the source material she needed, or at least working on the script for tonight's late night news broadcast. She could not afford the distractions and told Artier that if he wanted to help her he would have to leave her alone for the rest of the day and that they could talk sometime later.

He had replied by saying, "Good-bye Freckles,"

She found herself humored and annoyed by his comment, though he was sure that he did not really know her real name. Either way it did not matter, he would not be important in her career. And what mattered right then and there was getting this article prepped and ready to go before Mr. Firefly throws a fit over nothing again.

She managed to get the source material into Mr. Firefly and the rest of the editorial staff half way through the afternoon. Thankfully the doctor from Bazaar had sent the records through quickly with no issues what so ever. The article was done and hopefully she would wake up the next morning with possibly the Senator from Alderaan presenting some new bill before the senate about the recent childhood death rate increases.

It would look rather good on her part that a Senator who was renowned for his sympathy towards democracy and his support of the republic helping others. It was going to be perfect for all of them to understand that the people who had read the articles took the power from her writing and sent it through the airways of the galaxy.

Everything at that moment was going to be perfect, the article would get published and her fame would exceed even Mr. Firefly's fame as the director of the holonet here on Coruscant.

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Okay here you are, and if you know who Rufus T. Firefly is then you are awesome because the movie Duck Soup has to be the best of all time. Well... besides star wars, either way review and junk.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello, again I forgot in the first chapter to remind all of you that I do not own star wars and if I did my name would be Walt Disney. Which would be epic! :D Anyway enjoy!

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**Chapter 3**

**Coruscant 21 BBY (noon)**

Staff meetings were never fun, they were not supposed to be fun and this one especially was not fun. All she was going to do here was listen to Mr. Firefly discuss the same shit he said the night before. He was going spend over an hour just doing nothing but repeat what he has already laid forth.

And now here was the worst part she now had to research a Senator to explore more. Perhaps the best bet would be Senator Organa from Alderaan? No, someone else would choose him before she managed to start her research on his personal life and whether or not he could be trusted by the people or not.

Maybe if she was lucky she would not have to do this silly assignment and just get the rest of the week off to do further research on the recent increase in unemployment that has struck the mid rim. Whatever the case, there was going to be research, and writing, then more research and writing. That was life to her now, research and writing.

"Now, what I am here to discuss is the person who did a recent article on Jedi Master Mace Windu." Mr. Firefly said in his wispy basic.

Someone was going to get fired. Whenever he started the meeting with an article that meant that he was going to criticize them for writing like a five-year-old. There was going to be hell to pay for whomever kriffed up this time around. There are reasons why it is hard to work on Coruscant; and those reasons always carried back to if you make a mistake going to be fired. Everyone wanted everything to be perfect, no matter what happened if it wasn't perfect they were going to be fired. It was a hard life working in the HoloNet, but its rewards far outweighed the risks.

The dreams of everyone were to get the ultimate reward... fame. If one person wrote an article that revealed something to the whole galaxy about something so shocking that they would live forever with their fame as being the one who broke the story in the first place. It was rare when it occurred, but when it did that person would never have to worry about credits, food, or anything ever again in their life. They would have everything all for writing an article like everyone else did daily.

"I did that," Artier spoke up at last.

_Does he not know he just cost himself his job?_ Lubov asked herself as she looked at her new friend... if she could call him that at all.

"I wrote the article for Mr. Abalian, he said something about being busy researching so I wrote it for him." Artier said with confidence that only an intern could have. "I apologize for doing it, but you know I would not have it weren't for Mr. Abalian."

He was far too confident to work at the HoloNet. Artier just blamed someone else for what he did one of the worst mistakes a journalist could make. Was he mad? He had to be; otherwise he would not have dared to say anything about the article. Now, Mr. Firefly would tear the poor boy down before he had a chance to do anything great... like not giving out coffee all day.

"Well, Mr. Mills," Mr. Firefly said. "I have to tell you that you have just entered dangerous territory, if you screw up again you will be headed back home."

Artier just nodded and sat back down, while the meeting continued. The whole of the discussion was that they needed to get stories that made the readers want to read, rather than just go about their own business. They needed a story that threw the public for a loop, and whoever broke that story would get the fame they desired. If only that were what was going to happen; the meetings like these were just hope talks that were never going to come true no matter who much she wished they would. Mr. Firefly informed them all that they had to find a story that would send shock waves all the way to the outer rim and further. If not then there was chance they could all end up fired from the main HoloNet studio.

Lubov watched as Mr. Firefly ran over the recent success with the articles on Jedi Knights fighting the war and how if they kept the stakes high for the public ratings would surely go up. Perhaps even they could get more money from their producers by getting higher ratings? If the producers started handing out money, then there was the pay raise that they all desperately wanted.

"Also we are seeing a high youth interest in reading about the Jedi Anakin Skywalker." Mr. Firefly said as Lubov felt herself falling asleep out of lack of sleep. "We need to start running more youth centered stories on this boy and fast. Our ratings will surely head up faster if we can think of more articles about this Jedi. Which means more people out on the field, more interviews, and more articles period."

Mr. Firefly slammed his fist or what could be called a fist on to the table leaving everyone in the room wide awake and ready to listen to his newest brilliant plan. He was probably going to say that they needed to get the poor Jedi in interviews and probably harass the kriff out of the boy before he actually managed to get back to the Jedi Temple. There would be young, handsome male reporters sent out on the job of course to attract the young girls into watching the news or reading it. And of course the females that would attract the males to at least "watch" the broadcast of the war front.

Two things, handsome men, and pretty women that were it turned on the youth. Their audience was not hard to get but they lost it easier than the others. They wanted to hear about heroes not politics, that is why they were lost. The day the youth actually listened to the news was the day she saw Alderaan turned into an asteroid field. **(See what I did there? :) Anyway, back to the story.)**

"What we need is more youth in the media, we need everyone here to look younger and be younger. No one over 30 standard years may come on the HoloNet anymore. We need to show the youth of the Republic not the older generation that has caused this war. They want to see their peers on the news not some old males and females wanting to act like they knew them." Mr. Firefly argued as he set out the new ground rules.

Great, now there would be less truth in the stories and more opinions. She could already see some of the female reporters telling the world of how hot she thought whatever his name was and that everyone else should be attracted to him. Mr. Firefly had a good marketing skill, grab the youth so that their parents will be forced to watch, while the HoloNet got higher ratings than ever before. The higher the ratings the more Mr. Firefly got in credits. Was that not what journalism was about? Just writing shit to get money out of it? Perhaps it was because that is all that she had been seeing since she joined the media after graduation.

The meeting ended with Lubov being assigned to research the Chancellor himself. This was going to be Hell; she already disagreed with the Chancellor's politics now she would have to sit through his mindless chatter for the next month while she tried to get information out of him. In the end, she reminded herself, it would be all right and that she would get paid for what she was doing. Credits made the world go round, she was sure of that.

"Hey Lubov!" Artier called her out of her day dream to find herself sitting in her office space head on the desk tired.

"What?" She asked with her mouth slightly crushed by the desk.

"Can you help me?" He asked in a voice that was much too childish for a man of his age.

She sat herself up and fixed her clothing so she could begin a proper conversation. "Did you write that Master Windu was really Master Window?"

"What?" He asked with a rather awkward grin on his face. "No, I just wrote that he was a black guy and that he looked like that guy from Pulp Fiction. And that apparently offended people for some reason."

"A black guy?" Lubov asked. "Pulp Fiction? What the hell have you been doing? Writing while on death sticks?"

"Yes, hey let's not talk about that," He insisted. "I need your help."

"With what? Spelling or do you need help with not racial profiling people?"

"No!" Artier practically shouted. "I have been assigned to research Anakin Skywalker, can you please help me?"

She just sighed and said she would since he was a friend. He of course had been so grateful that he had grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into a tight hug saying how thankful he was of her all the way. He probably had no idea what he had just gotten himself into asking for the help of Lubov, but he seemed open to a challenge. He was going to write and research day and night for the next month until she had approved a copy of the article to send out, and no further mistakes when it came to Master Windu.

"All right so when do we start?" Artier asked as he sat down on her desk. "I am open for tonight so maybe we could discuss this over dinner and then head back to my place for further research."

Lubov said nothing other than, "All right but we are researching a Jedi which means we have to live by their code for the next month."

"No," Was his immediate response. "I am not going to be a mediation freak and I am sure as hell not going to stop socializing with my friends and family."

"Okay then, but remember don't expect much out of our partnership other than research." Lubov warned.

"Yes, I understand now if you please would let me we could research other things after dinner."

"When Alderaan is an asteroid belt." She warned as she grabbed her things to head to lunch.

As she walked off she heard Artier say, "Then there is hope!"

Whatever the hell that meant he was getting nothing out of their friendship other than help on an article and possibly some manner courses on how not to act around women.

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Hello all, this is me, and since Spring Break is nearing it's end that means that I will not have nearly as much time as I have had over this past week to write. But don't worry I will keep you posted for updates as soon as I can! :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Coruscant 21 BBY (late afternoon)**

"I think it is sweet that he asked you to dinner," Lubov's mother, a native of the planet Naboo, said in a way that was not like the Hapan's.

Her mother was completely unaware of the culture differences between Hapes and Naboo. For one thing, women did not have to act so delicate and they did not have to get married just because they were getting on up in age. She was from a different planet and had taken her years just to understand that Hapes was not Naboo in any way, shape, or form.

"I do not," Lubov replied as she ran a brush through her red hair. "He is repulsive to say the least and he has not yet proven to me to be worthy of my attention."

"Why must you be so difficult?"

"Because I have a girlfriend back home that I love more than anyone else in the galaxy. I do not need a male to make me feel loved. Mother you of all people should understand that I have no interest in men what so ever."

"Yes," She sighed looking back to her daughter in disappointment. "I am just worried about you, you need to settle down at some point dear. Don't waste your life on this job."

"Mother, I am going to settle down when I want to," Lubov retorted. "I shall do as I like and please do no tell me otherwise. I am far old enough to make my own decisions."

"I just wanted grandchildren." Her mother said in new and somehow sadder tone.

"Well, perhaps Alexi can give you grandchildren." Lubov argued. "He is the one who all the girls love and the one you speak of so highly at home. I do not understand why you are concerned with my life when you have him to fuss over."

Her mother remained quiet as her eldest child zipped up her little black dress. Her daughter was a beautiful woman that could get any man she wanted but she pushed them away for her fantasies over other girls. It was what scared her most that her daughter would end up dying alone with no man by her side to give her children.

She would live out the rest of her life at that HoloNet station and do nothing but stress over writing articles on whatever the hell it was that she wrote about. It was sad to think that her daughter was going to be alone for the rest of her life when here she was happy and unafraid to die alone.

Perhaps that was the problem? Her daughter was not worried enough about her future that she refused to see that it was a problem to not get married and have children. It was the point of her life as a woman to want children. Why did she not want to have children? To be honest with herself why was it that her daughter liked girls over boys in the first place?

"I am just worried about you dear," her mother finally admitted with a heavy sigh. "I just want you to be happy with your life."

Lubov sighed deeply her mother was trying to make her feel guilty for not wanting to "settle down" at the age of 25. She had plenty of time to settle down when she was older but for now all she wanted to do was get famous and wealthy. That was the point of life wasn't it? To become immortal? To be remembered forever, no matter what just to be remembered as the person who did whatever the hell it was that she was meant to do.

It would be a miracle if her mother ever accepted that much of her. If she ever accepted the fact that there was no such thing as settling down to her. She was going to live her life the way she wanted not the way her mother wanted.

"Mother I love you," Lubov said at last. "However, I am a grown woman and I should be able to make my own decisions when it comes to my love life and not worry about you interfering."

"I love you too, Lubov, I am so sorry for not being a good mother." Her mother said cutting off the connection before Lubov had a chance to say something.

Her mother always enjoyed leaving her in situations where she felt guilty for just being honest with her. Was that what she wanted? For her to feel guilty of nothing other than speaking her mind? Perhaps it was and she was just wasting her time her trying to explain it to her.

Lubov checked herself in the mirror in her one bedroom apartment on a rather cheap side of Coruscant. It was not a bad neighborhood; it was just not what she wished she could have. She wanted a luxury apartment and here she was living like the average citizen of the Republic.

The black dress she wore had been made somewhere in the outer rim and had been cheap for her. Nothing special about the dress other than the fact it made her look like a Holofilm star. She wanted to look special considering the restaurant she was going to. It amazed her that Artier had even managed to get into this place without the help of someone higher up in the HoloNet organization. He must have connections; either that or he stole the reservations from some poor couple that did have reservation to whatever restaurant that he had reservations for.

As she locked the door of her apartment and began to make her way to the restaurant she could not help but find herself wondering if this was a good idea. She liked Artier, however, she started feeling like she was setting him up for disappointment. The guilt was not something that she was going to let eat her away, she just had to tell him lightly that she had no interest in him or well all men at all. Perhaps that would make him feel better? Or maybe it would make him feel worse about himself? No, she could not think of this right then and there she had to focus on the job at hand, which was getting to the restaurant to begin research with Artier.

* * *

As Lubov exited the taxi she fixed her dress and headed to the entrance to wait on Artier, if he was not already here.

The restaurant had at least one hundred humans and other species inside of the place wearing the finest clothing in the galaxy. They all were rich looking with their fancy dresses and suits, their jewelry and the food they ate. The food of which was probably priced higher than her apartments rent per month. Perhaps it was a bad idea coming here with the fact that she could not even afford the basic salad at this place.

"Little lady are you lost?" A male Quarren asked coming up from the entrance of the establishment.

"No," She replied. "I am waiting for someone."

"A date?"

"Sort of,"

"Well then why not wait inside?"

"Because I am not sure what the reservations are under."

"Well if that is it why not tell me who you are waiting on?"

"I am waiting on Artier Mills," Lubov said grabbing the stun blaster she hid in her dress just in case this Quarren tried anything on her.

She always kept a blaster with her, just in case. Coruscant was not known for being peaceful among the species, she had to make sure that she was safe and not in any danger. With the blaster she felt safer going out of her apartment and not afraid of any criminals that could steal her money or do worse to her. She was not going to be physically harmed; she would never allow that to happen to her again.

"Artier Mills?" He repeated in question form. "The Correlian humanoid?"

"Yes," She replied cautiously.

"In that case then you are lucky to be the date of him this evening," He said in a nonchalant voice that rose concern in her.

"Why?"

"Because he is rich."

"Well, that explains the fancy restaurant."

"That and the fact that he comes from a long line of illegal drug traffickers."

"He deals in drugs?"

"No, his father and his grandfather do." He told her the whole story about how Artier's family had risen to power through drug trafficking.

And how that they were wanted on at least twenty-two planets for death stick selling. Whoever this man was he knew too much about Artier's family for her liking. Though he seemed sincere with his information, she could not help but find herself not trusting the Quarren. She already did not hold him in high regard before and now here she was having a conversation with him about Artier's family's drug charges.

Her mother would be so proud of her for bringing home a rich man, no matter how he earned his fortune or whether it was illegal or not. This was going to be a lovely evening after learning all that she had from this Quarren. Perhaps she would just not bring this up? No, she would ask him how in hell he had gotten into this fancy place without trouble. He would probably lie and tell her that a friend had given him this information. And then the evening would go on with her knowing everything about his family and him having no clue what she knew and what she could do about it.

She could finally have the story that brought her the fame and riches she desired. She exposed a drug ring she could get what she wanted and nothing would ever go wrong with her again... but there was also the case that this whole story was false and that this man was crazy and was just making up shit to make her feel uneasy. She hoped the latter.

When Artier showed up it had been at least fifteen minutes since she had arrived and had the conversation with the Quarren male. She had just decided not to pay attention to what the man had said and just focused on what was important; helping Artier with his article.

"I hope you weren't waiting too long," Artier said as the two entered the fancy restaurant. "'Cause that is an awful way to start off a date."

"This is not a date sweetheart." Lubov reminded him as the waiter escorted the two Journalist to their table.

The whole restaurant smelled of expensive perfume like the smell of the gardens of her backyard back home on Hapes. The species were all there just chatting with each other wearing clothing that was what everyone in the galaxy dreamed of being able to wear. None of them aware that anything wrong was going on outside of their chats, just sitting there talking about what they were going to eat or what they were going to do when they got back to their homes. Nothing in their conversations about the man that had told her about Artier.

"What do you know about this guy?" Lubov asked Artier.

"I know he is a Jedi and that we call him the hero with no fear sometimes on the HoloNet." Artier said as if he did not much care about their research. "I know his master is Obi-wan Kenobi and that he is famed for doing some crazy shit on the battle field."

"That is why they call him the hero with no fear." Lubov said as if he had not already known that. "He does crazy shit that no sane man would do and then when he comes back we all treat him like a god. It keeps the ratings high and the public happy so no one is getting hurt by our twisting of his story slightly."

"No one knows anymore than we do?" Artier asked.

Lubov took a sip of her sweet wine and simply nodded. "The Jedi are very secretive about everything, even if we were able to have a chat with this Jedi our chances of getting information are about as slim as you getting a date with me."

"But this is a date," Artier countered with a cocky grin on his face. "Otherwise I assume you would not be so attainment about this not being a date. Just admit it Lubov and it will make things a whole lot easier for the both of us."

"Whatever you say," Lubov said as she took another sip of wine.

* * *

hey guys hope you liked the chapter and if you did review our something. lol whatever you want i really don't care. anyway hope to get an update soon! :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello guys! I am alive and well and this chapter is dedicated to my dear friend John for writing some of the dialogue for Artier. **I would also like to say to those wondering if this is fan fiction or not, that it is and I am just waiting to dump out all of the AU story plot for a few more chapters down. Character development first then we can move onto the main focus of the story.

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**Coruscant (evening) 21 BBY**

"So brought to Coruscant age nine by the late Qui-gon Jinn and Master Obi-wan Kenobi, blew up a ship for the Naboo, trained to be a knight, recently knighted, and now is a general of war." Artier ran over the summary that they had managed to draw up in under an hour of eating at the expensive restaurant.

Lubov sighed and rolled her eyes at the fact that this was all she had done this evening and all she had come prepared to do. It was rather sad really how she knew all of this was going to happen and still decided to go because it was in her job description to do the same shit every night for the rest of her life. It would be so much fun in the future to explain her job to her grandchildren, if she ever had children to begin with.

"Pretty much, now we already know he has a close friendship with the Chancellor, so that is a lead that we can get more information off of with my project later." Lubov stated writing down what had to be done first and for most.

Writing the short biography at the beginning that showed the Jedi as a fearless warrior from slave beginnings to a Jedi Knight. Whatever made the people want to read more of it the better. Next they had to get interviews with people close to him to get the whole story, of course if they were able to they would just walk up to Skywalker and ask him as many questions as possible before they ended up arrested for harassing the poor boy. After the interviews they would get reports in about what he has been doing recently to help with the war effort and all that shit that they were now required to do to get the people on the side of the war.

After all their work was finished they had to send the manuscript into the editor's office to get everything approved and checked for content. And then they would have to go through the boss to get the manuscript approved and finally, or at least they hoped, published. That long process is what they are paid to do and though they like the job it is the same shit every time around. And it was beginning to get old for Lubov already.

"All right," Artier said taking a rather large swig of his wine. "We should also get an interview with that Naboo senator she was queen of the planet when in the beginning. And after that we should harass the Jedi council for information, and while were at it that R2 unit that he keeps around him all the time. I am sure the droid can give us the real juicy stuff the public wants."

Lubov rolled her eyes at his sarcasm. She was beginning to get sick of this story herself but it did not give him permission to slack off while they were only an hour into their research. They would be doing the same research for the next month and if he did not get his act together soon there would be hell to pay. Or at least for him, she was not responsible for this assignment and the due date was of no concern to her.

"Okay we interview the droid but first we have to kidnap it." Lubov stated going along with his more than likely drunken thoughts.

"I agree, and while we are at it ask him about his love affairs with the cute little female droids." Artier giggled like a little girl or a twenty-three year old man who had had far too much to drink.

"No, we need to ask him about Skywalker's love affairs with Master Kenobi and Master Windu."

"Yes, and while we are at it we need to make sure we get Master Window to tell us about filming Pulp Fiction while still being a Jedi."

"Perfect," Lubov said as she took another large swig of her wine.

If he was getting drunk over this why could she not. Here she was in an expensive restaurant doing something that she had done a million times before... why not do it drunk this time? Shit could not get any worse could it?

* * *

As the two exited the expensive restaurant with Artier telling them to put the bill on his tab. They made their way through the streets of Coruscant both tipsy and giggling at nothing just for the hell of it. Both of them making up random stories for the article they had to write in the upcoming weeks. Neither of them caring at how stupid the ideas were all they cared about was getting home or wherever that was?

They walked past all sorts of weird species all trying to get them to join them in either their brothel or to buy their death sticks. All the while laughing and pointing at these people with weird faces or just because they were trying to sell them something. None of them realizing how far gone the two were to even bother noticing what they were trying to do, of course they could get arrested for being drunk in public but everyone got drunk and it was not like they were doing anything illegal.

"Wait," Lubov giggled as they headed for a dark building. "Where are we going?"

"Who cares?" Artier said leading her up the dark stair case towards the building.

Lubov giggled something about needing some water and a milkshake with shurra fruit flavoring. And all the while Artier lead her to wherever they were going, not caring where it was she just followed along and giggled at the thought of people seeing her and him together in such an intimate way. Think of what Tala would say if she say them together? She would say that she was cheating on her and that she never even cared about their relationship which is true to a point but she was not about to admit it. And at that point she really did not care about anything but getting her milkshake and water.

As Artier had them in a turbo lift she began telling him about how her girlfriend complained too much and how she was glad to be away from her for a while, while working. He replied that he did not care and that he just thought she was too drunk for her own good.

"You know what?" Lubov asked in a slurred voice.

"What?" Artier asked.

Lubov giggled and just pulled him close to her. Forcing her lips onto his and all the while working her tongue into his mouth. He did not pull back but kissed the drunken Hapan woman as the turbo lift made stopped on his floor that his apartment belonged in. The two not caring what was going on around them just continued to go through the hall and opened the door in a hast to get inside to begin whatever the hell it was that Lubov had started.

* * *

Lubov woke up the next morning nude in someone else's bed and with a frightful headache. She could remember drinking with Artier and walking through the streets of Coruscant and that was it. Whatever happened next was a mystery to her and with herself being completely nude at that moment hinted that she must have done something she was going to regret. Had she had sex with Artier? Holy shit she had sex with Artier! The thoughts disgusted her down into the pit of her stomach where she felt herself wanting to vomit at the very thought of ever being with a man like that.

She had had sex before but never with a man, men were disgusting and they did not know how to please a woman the way another woman did. And here she was unable to remember how bad it must have been for her. Her nausea did not help the fact that she now pictured herself doing things that her mother would be more than likely proud of.

As she thought of what she could have done, Artier wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his disgusting male form. He smelled of sex and alcohol. It made her want to scream and then vomit up everything that they had done the night before and that was just the beginning of what she was going to do when he woke up. She hated the feeling of his body next to hers, it was not natural, or at least to her, the feeling of a man was nothing like a woman's. Nothing soft, just hard muscles that she had been told was what made men so attractive in the first place. It was too disgusting to put words to it that feeling she had laying next to Artier.

She loved Artier, she had to admit that to herself, but never in a sexual way. She found him to be annoying and funny, and at the same time this arrogant prick that she wanted to get rid of. If she was being honest with herself she actually wanted the memory of their love making back to just see what it was like. It may have been disgusting but it did not mean she did not want to at least have the memory of showing your love for someone in a very intimate way. Her thoughts could not be calmed, she wanted those memories and at the same time regretted her desire to ever want to see what had happened.

By the time Artier had woken up Lubov had managed to fall back to sleep. She was too tired to do anything but just lay there and act like she was dead and pray that he could not remember their love making too. If he remembered he would want more and she was not going to give that too him ever again. It disgusted her just the thought that she had done it, yet at the same time she was glad it had happened. Was that wrong?

"Lubov," Artier whispered in her ear as he began to kiss her neck in ways that reminded her of her girlfriend's kisses.

She used to be woken up every morning by Tala's kisses and was put back to sleep by them. They were always sweet and full of love and affection. She wanted that back from her not Artier who was never going to get anything other than research help from her again.

Lubov rose rolling onto her back staring up at Artier. "What happened last night?" She asked.

"You don't remember?" Artier asked with a smile. "You missed all the good parts you know. Let me tell you the story real quick. We were on our way up to my apartment next thing you know you grab me and start shoving your tongue down my throat. Next thing I know you are stripping off my clothes faster than I can manage to get my apartment door open. When we actually got into the apartment you practically tore off your clothes and then we began a long hot night of sex. You missed it,"

Lubov stared at him in shock. She had done all of that under the influence of alcohol? What in hell had she done? She had probably done more things to him than she would ever think of. As these thoughts grew her face became pale, and the contents of her stomach began to pile up against her, causing her to vomit in a near by flower vase at the very thought of... no, no more thoughts on that subject.

She felt Artier's hand on her back telling her that it was all right and that everything was going to be all right. She had just had sex with him! It had to be the most disgusting thing she had ever done in her life! And now he was telling her that it was good and now here she was with a vase filled with vomit. How could he ever act like it was a good thing? How could she have ever thought she wanted to remember having sex with him? She had to be going mad!

"Holy shit," Lubov finally managed to say. "We had sex?"

"Yes," Artier replied with an amused look on his face as if he was happy about her not being able to remember her doing whatever the hell it was that she had done to him... or the other way around.

"Oh my god my mother is going to be so proud of me." Lubov mumbled as she threw the sweat smelling sheets over her head. "I am a lesbian you do know that don't you?"

Artier was silent for a few moments before finally replying to her, "Well, you sure weren't a lesbian last night."

"Kriff," She muttered as she threw the sheets back over her head. "I can hardly believe I did that, Force how drunk I must have been to ever get in bed with you or any man for that matter!"

"I'm sorry," Artier managed to say after a few moments of silence.

Lubov knew he was upset and managed to keep her composure long enough to hug him gently and tell him that it was all right and that if they ever made this mistake again it would be all right. That she loved him enough to forgive him even if he was an ass sometimes she would always love him.

"Do you really love me?" Artier asked as Lubov came out fully clothed from the fresher.

"Of course I love you," She replied.

"Then why did you throw up in a vase when I told you we had sex?"

"Because I love you, I do not lust for you. Love is different from wanting to have sex with someone, surely you most understand that?"

"No, and to be honest I don't like the fact that you and I did something absolutely wonderful and now you are saying it was nothing other than a drunken nightmare?"

"I never..."

"But you vomited in a vase," He interupted. "You say you love me yet you are disgusted by the thought of having sex with me?"

Lubov sighed and managed to grab her coat before leaving him to sulk. "Love is not about sex, it is about what you and that person share."

Lubov left him in his apartment heading home to get started on her own work, not bothering to think back at what had just happened with herself and another one of her co-workers. That was what they truly were co-workers, nothing more.

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Yeah, I hope you liked this and review it and all that what not. Anyway, probably won't get another chapter up for awhile, however long that is I have no idea. Anyway, see you guys next time! :)


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry if this chapter is short I have been really busy with other things so here is the chapter I promised and I promise to get a new one up soon. And like I said this is fanfiction, I just have not gotten into the fanfiction side to this story yet.

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**One weeks later...**

**Coruscant 21 BBY (noon) **

"It is lovely to meet you Chancellor," Lubov said through a false smile.

She had never trusted this man, as soon as he had gotten the emergency powers at the start of the Clones Wars she had lost all respect for the man. The war was more than likely an inside job to keep him in power, even though if she dared to say something like that she would be thought of as crazy and sent back to that mental asylum on Naboo. She was not going back there so she kept her opinions to herself. Besides that if he was using the war to his advantage she would have read something somewhere from one of the Senators reports... or maybe he was censoring those to?

Whatever the case was she did not trust the old man. He may be from the same planet as her mother, but she was not about to trust him just because of that.

"It is lovely to meet you as well my dear," He replied in a sweet voice, that was reassuring to her for some reason.

"I am very grateful for you accepting my interview request." She told him as she took a seat in front of his desk where he sat himself down.

She was just grateful that he had been willing to work with her schedule rather than his which included more campaigning and working with senators to get the war to last longer rather than end it shortly. The war had changed everyone and he was more than likely making sure that it continued to kriff up everything in their democracy.

"It is an honor to be able to interview you at my age," Lubov said. "It is very rare that the HoloNet lets the younger generation interview the ones in power."

"Well, they should have fresh faces to be honest with you," The chancellor agreed. "It makes the youth more interested in current events."

"That I will have to agree with, my boss is reasoning that our out look needs to be more youth oriented rather than just focusing on what adults have to say on certain matters."

The Chancellor simply nodded and had her bring out her datapad filled with questions. She had finally managed to get Artier to talk to her after what had happened the week before and had all of his questions ready to ask the Chancellor. The two had not made up per se but their relationship was headed back to hopefully what it had been before.

"Now, to begin this interview I have to ask you your name and what your position is otherwise my boss is going to have both of us fired." Lubov said with a smile on her face as she pressed the record button on her datapad.

"My name is Palpatine and I have the position as High Chancellor of the Galactic Republic." The Chancellor replied with a smile on his old face.

"Now lately all we have heard from you is that you are trying to end the war and yet there seems to be nothing done about it. Please explain this in simply terms so that the audience will be able to understand."

"It is not that I am not trying to end the war, the only thing I have been doing for the past year is focusing on negotiations and such with the Separatists." The Chancellor began. "What has been happening is that every time I think we are getting somewhere they go off and attack on of systems and cause all sorts of causalities? It is beginning to be quite repetitive. The Separatists seem willing to speak but they will not speak unless we lower our defensives, which I am afraid we cannot do without risking more lives. The decisions are beginning to tear the Senate and I apart."

Lubov cleared her throat at the notion that the Separatists were behind the war, but she could not help but feel that there was something else there. Something he, or any other senator was hiding. Someone was behind the war, and it was not the Confederacy.

"Now," Lubov said scrolling down to the question. "I have to ask whether or not you believe the political situations in the Confederacy are wearing down or not."

"It is rather difficult to say at this point though most of their resources are going to the way effort. Their economy is still weak at best which is never the best idea for running any sort of government."

"Agreed." Lubov nodded her head and moved on to the next question not feeling like having him elaborate on the situation with the poor economic choices of the Separatist movement.

The whole of the information they would discuss was already on the HoloNet from older interviews and new information that comes from the Separatist side of the war. Information and the news is what is holding the galaxy together by a thin thread though even that is being cut by the recent increase in propaganda to support the war. The ideas of Journalism were going down hill... just like the ideas of democracy being replaced by the ideas of war. Wars are fought by men who support ideas, they do not fight to fight, they fight simply because they are bored, they fight because they want to. If you give them a reason they will fight.

"What are your opinions on the recent rise of Anarchists in the Mid Rim?"

"I understand their concerns that the democracy of the Republic is being overthrown by the ideas that I have been put into power and will never return that power. Believe me I will turn my power over, this job is not meant for an old man like me for long." He said with a convincing smile on his elderly face. "And they have a right to protest, however, they must understand that if we do not keep this war up we are going to have more anarchist movements like these that will eventually tear this Republic though it's seams."

"It must be very difficult to realize that one mistake can ruin the entire future of the galaxy." She replied with a sympathetic look in her eyes. "I would never be able to handle that sort of power. I have to admit you are doing quite well for someone of your age with this position."

Lubov did not what had come over all she knew was that she suddenly felt more comfortable around the Chancellor and that she felt herself very open to him. She could not bring herself to understand these feelings and just tried her best to take control of her emotions while she could but she could not. What was wrong with her? Was she having another breakdown? No, it could not be another one of those there was something wrong with her... no, she did not feel sick. Perhaps she was over reacting to nothing?

"You are right my dear," The Chancellor replied with a new found smile on his face. "It is a difficult job and if not for the war we all know that I would have retired and gone back to my home planet and deal with the politics there."

"Naboo is rather peaceful," She commented. "Their involvement in the war has been minimal as far as the planet is concerned. Their former Queen, Senator Amidala seems to be the one who gets the planet in the spotlight."

"Yes," He said with a fond look in his eyes. "She is something special, though often I worry about her over working herself. She spends all of her time working rather than focusing on the more important things in life. I am sorry, but you must understand my point."

"I do," Lubov nodded in agreement. "I will say this though I came to interview you not the Senator."

"I understand that." He said. "Now what is the next question?"

"Yes," Lubov padded down to her questions Artier had given her. "Is it true that you are close to the Jedi Anakin Skywalker?"

The Chancellor smiled probably realizing that this was going to come up eventually. She was not sorry that she brought it up she was just curious herself and she had a duty to a friend, or was Artier still a friend? To get the interview done for him.

"I am sorry to bring this up, however, I must dive in on this, you understand ratings and such." Lubov explained sighing heavily. "To be honest I would be more interested in learning about your opinions on the recent military set back occurring in the Outer Rim and how this may affect us in the near future. Some are even saying that the Outer Rim will decide the outcome of the war do you agree?"

"To be honest, the Outer Rim is not a part of the Republic and if we were to gain that section it could be used to our advantage in the way of getting more resources. While helping the Outer Rim territories with medical aid and educational teaching. It could be useful to say the least to get a hold of the Outer Rim, however, my views on the issue is that we have to keep where we are for now and move on when it comes to us."

"Thank you for your opinion on that," Lubov said with a grin on her face. "Now like I said for ratings..."

"Don't worry my dear I do not mind speaking of a friend."

"Thank you, your excellency, you have saved my job!" She stated with relief.

"Well then, I have known Anakin since he was a little boy and have been like another father figure for the boy since then..."

* * *

Lubov unlocked the door to her apartment. Her day had been spent interviewing the Chancellor and getting the information Artier wanted, or rather needed to get his article done. And now here she was with all of this information and the beginning of what would become another three weeks work of doing nothing but focusing on the Chancellor and his past. If she was lucky she could get all of this done within two weeks, but the chances were light considering the fact she had to deal with Artier.

After what had happened last week their relationship had mended some, but not enough where she felt like having a chat with him of the com. She felt awkward just thinking about him and all the things she more than likely did to him. It still sent shivers down her spine just to think of those things. To imagine just being with him in the sweaty... No! She could not go there again, if she kept thinking about the worse it was going to get between herself and Artier. Things had to get better they had become partners and if partners can not work together than their jobs were ruined and it was back to Hapes for her.

As she got into the apartment she her com blinking with a new message on it. She had left it there in the apartment by mistake, and now here she was with another message from her mother about how she needed to begin to court Artier. It disgusted her on how her mother found out about these intimate details of her life.

She pressed the top button and managed to get the message to play for her. Strangely enough it was not her mother who had sent her a message but Artier. He looked around the room for a moment before he began to speak as if afraid to get caught doing something he was not supposed to do. Was his mother with him and had the same ideas as hers? If that was the case she knew that she could get her mother and his mother together for a happy marriage to each other.

"Hello Lubov," Artier began. "I would like to thank you for the help you have given me and by doing that I would like to meet over at dinner to discuss what you have gotten from the Chancellor on the Jedi. And then afterwards we should go on an adventure together, nothing sexual this time I promise! I just want to get around and explore the sights and maybe even go to Hapes and meet your family. I am kidding about that last part, I am sure your father would kill me if he found out that I was in love with his daughter."

Artier winked his, what some girls call "sexy", eye. She was repulsed by this and rolled her eyes at that. She was sure though that her mother would be more than pleased to see her bring home a boy that claimed to be in love with her. And her father would just ask him if he knew the Hapan culture and what that implied as far as his behavior around women.

"Anyway, I love you Lubov, and hope to see you soon." Artier said as he closed down the holographic image of himself.

What an arrogant prick he was? But why on earth did she even like to be in the same room with him while he caused her so much mental pain?

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Good, bad, neither, review if you want I really don't care. Either way you know you want to and you just don't want to bother me with reading more things. Anyway, see you ladies and boys next time! :)


	7. Chapter 7

Hello everyone! I have a new update and like I said I told you this was fanfiction! Burn all of the none believers! I am joking by the way. I seriously am! And by the way thanks to all the Russian fans, apparently that is my third highest audience outside of Great Britain and the United States. :)

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**Coruscant 21 BBY**

"Thank you for meeting me," Artier said as the two sat down at the opposite ends of a small wooden table.

"My pleasure." She replied with a smile.

Though their friendship had been rocked by the recent events regarding their accidental one night stand things had been going find between them not bothering to say anything about it between the two or else rising problems neither wanted. It was far too early to do anything on their rather odd friendship for lack of a better word.

Lubov dressed plainly in a simple red dress that her father had sent her for her 25th birthday last year. As she approached the age of 26 she was realizing quickly that life was moving on and that if she wanted the fame she desired she would have to act quickly or lose the chance to take a hold of that fame and live with it for the longest amount of time.

It was not truly fair that they lost their youth so soon and that when it was time to settle down it was too late they were old and never going too much live again like they did. That was why she wanted fame. She wanted to go through life enjoying her age not dealing with constant articles and worry over whether she would meet a deadline.

"How in the galaxy did you manage to get reservations here?" Lubov asked as she looked around to make sure no one was looking at them oddly.

All the people here were well above the citizens from the previous restaurant they had attended last week. They were all more than likely from the royal families and leaders of planets from across the galaxy. None of them would be able to afford this restaurant without these high connections. Perhaps that ridiculous story about Artier's family was true and they were wealthy from selling drugs on the black market?

"I have connections." Artier replied with a wide grin on his face. "Let's just leave it at my grandfather owns this place."

Lubov smiled. "To be honest, I thought you had killed someone to get the reservations to this place."

Artier chuckled. "No, I would never kill anyone when all I have to do is COM and say what time I will be here."

"Oh so you stop in here often?"

"No, not really, just when I have a special guest or that one time just because I did not feel like going to work."

"I would have thought with this sort of business you would have all the money you needed."

"Oh," He muttered. "I do, but I prefer to keep myself busy. You could say my job at the HoloNet is just for shits and giggles and you would be right."

"So you are not interested in doing this for the rest of your life?" She asked innocently.

"No," He said while motioning for a waiter to come by and serve their drinks. "I will go back to my home planet after a year or two. I usual do this sort of thing, do random jobs then head back home and get back to running the business."

Lubov looked down feeling she become disappointed at the thought of her never seeing Artier again. For some reason she felt sad at the very thought of never seeing him again. It was a strange feeling; she wanted to be rid of him sometimes but at the other time she did not want to him to be away from her. She wanted him. No, she needed him. What was going on?

Artier must have seen the look on her face and just said, "Relax, I will take you with me."

"You had better!" Lubov threatened. "I can hardly imagine not having to see your ugly face every day."

Artier did nothing but laugh at her rude comment. He was not used to this woman using insulting him and could not stand the thought of this beautiful doll look-a-like was insulting him. It did not make him angry, what it made him was rather embarrassed at the fact this woman had so much angry in her lanky body.

The two laughed for a moment as the waiter poured their drinks and muttered something to Artier in a language Lubov could not identify. She just stared at him as he called for a toast of the grounds of information finding in their long wait to get their articles published. A success that they had yet to reach.

"How did you interview go with the Chancellor?" Artier asked shortly after ordering the first course.

"Fairly well," Lubov replied with a small smile. "He seemed rather uninterested in answering the questions regarding your research character."

"As I thought," Artier sighed and leaned back in his seat. "This man is more elusive than I thought, tomorrow I have an interview with the senator from Naboo and I hope you will be able to come with me."

"I should be able to come as long as I know the time and place."

"Good," Artier grim widened as he stared at Lubov. "We will be meeting in one of the press rooms around noon and we shall have lunch with her. Over lunch we will casually ask questions about the war, by us of course I mean you. After a while we will change the subject to Skywalker then we can leave."

"Sounds like a plan," Lubov said taking another sip of her wine. "Only problem is the Senator always gets uncomfortable when a journalist brings up Skywalker. I think the two are having an affair."

"That would be the story of the century." Artier commented. "Now we just need proof. Stories would do, but what we need is cameras to catch everything."

Lubov laughed, hoping he was kidding about putting cameras in a high government official's office. That was suicide, or rather life in imprisonment for treason on account of stealing information for personal gain. Or perhaps they could get charged with stealing government secrets and selling them to the HoloNet for a high profit. If they could come up with the charges themselves it was a bad idea already.

"Yes, and when we release the story we have to make sure we call it the love story of the century," Lubov advised. "It will be the secret love affair of the senator and the Jedi war hero."

Artier smiled. "Now tomorrow we can get that proof."

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**The Next day...**

**(Noon)**

Lubov and Artier walked hand in hand into the pressroom they had been told the Senator would meet them in. It was a rather casual meeting, or at least they were hoping it would be. Most of the questions would be asked by Lubov while Artier kept careful track of the questions asked and the answers given by the Senator. She was one to not be simple with her language though often straightforward when it came to telling how things truly were in the Senate. Though as Journalist they knew for the most part the problems of the Senate, they did not know everything there was to know. It would be a miracle if they even managed to get new information out of the Senator.

They had brought in all of their equipment already and were now ready for the interview with the Senator; all they had to do now was wait for her to show up. If they were lucky she would get here within the next few minutes and start on the lunch Artier had been so kind to order for them. A Nubian meal of some sort that his grandfather had fixed for them, it would be good for the Senator to have something that reminded her of home and not to force her into anything. Home made everyone relax and answer the questions without so much trouble. And relaxation was the goal of the whole situation; get her to answer as many questions as they could and then leave to start writing.

The room they were in smelled of sweat more than likely from nervous journalists. All of them nervous about asking questions to the people who could get them arrested if they felt threatened. It was only scary the first few times they met the politicians. After a while one would get used to just asking and not worrying about what could happen to you if you over step the line.

"What time did she say she would be here?" Lubov asked double-checking with Artier about the interview.

Artier looked at his wrist for a moment pretending to have a watch on. "She said she would be here at noon or so."

Lubov simply nodded and sat down at the small interview table. The room was set up perfectly for the interview already, all she needed now was some wine and a few shurra fruits and she was perfectly ready for the rest of the interview. She was best when she had something to drink, she was not a drunk, but the feeling of at least being out of control gave her a since of reality in all matters.

Artier sat down beside of her grabbing a water container and two cups. After pouring the water he handed the cup to Lubov. She drank from the dark cup and felt the cool liquid cascade down her throat, as a nervousness inside of her seemed to fade with that sip. The nervousness that came always before an interview such as these. These caused her not pain or anger; just anxiety that she may make a mistake and her whole career could be over. If that were to happen there was no end to what may happen to her if she had to go back to Hapes. She could end up working for the local news at best. But it was not truly the interview that was bothering her it was the fact that there was a slim chance that if she were fired that she would never see Artier again.

The thoughts of actually never seeing him again outweighed all of her thoughts on the interview. She wanted, no she somehow needed him. As if someone was pushing her to make sure she was always there. Was it some sort of God or Goddess? Or was it that Jedi religion the Force? It was telling her to stay with him. Whatever the reason for, she had to.

As the water was finished the door opened and a staff member for the Senator had finally arrived. The two stood up in respect for the woman in power, though Lubov was older than her she still had to respect her in ways that she would sometimes rather not. It was not the matter of manners that upset her it was the fact that the politicians were treated better than the average citizens of the Republic. As if they cared more for themselves rather than the people they had been elected or placed to serve. Why did they not care?

"It is lovely to meet you senator," Lubov said, giving a faint curtsey to the beautiful senator.

Senator Amidala smiled back and said, "Well we had best get this interview done quickly I am sure your lives are just as busy as mine."

"Quite Senator," Artier responded as he pulled out the chair for her to sit on.

After the Senator was seated Lubov sat down next to Artier and across from the Senator for better angle. She could easily see why most of the fashion Holozines wanted her to be on the cover; her beauty far underestimated by the people of the Senate. They thought she was just another human who wanted peace rather than the war to continue. Though it had been her fault truly for starting this war in the first place with her election of Chancellor Palpatine some ten years ago; she was not going to hold that against her now as the fact of the matter was she was just trying to get information out of her about her supposed "Jedi Lover" as Artier had cleverly punned.

"My name is Artier Mills and this is my friend and co-worker Lubov Makarova." Artier introduced the two, then put his hand on hers. "I call her freckles though."

The senator responded with a frozen face that broke out into a sad smile. What was she said about? Was someone dead that she did not know about? Was it a family member? Was it someone she had not seen in a while? Or was it a lover? A lover that was far off somewhere chasing down seperatists.

No, she could not get herself wrapped up in Artier's crazy thinking. It was bad enough she had believed the Quarren about Artier in the first place and here she was listening to Artier's nonsense stories.

"Now to get down to business," Lubov said widening her eyes in awkward horror of her partners open exchange of words with a Senator of the Republic.

She knew Artier was bold, she had known that the moment she had been called "freckles" by him and now here she was having to apologize for him because he was too stupid to realize what he had done.

"Sounds like a fine idea to me," The Senator said.

Artier got up and ran up to get the food prepared leaving Lubov to ask the questions while she filled up hers and the Senator's glass of wine. The two said cheers in hopes of a successful interview and peace returning to the galaxy. It was an act that showed the two were on the same side and that even if the media appeared to be on the side of the war, they were truly against it like everyone else. What a stupid war they were in?

"Now, we all know you are a strong supporter of democracy," Lubov began. "However, many have questioned your allegiance with the fact that you were at the first battle and another fact that you are in close relationships with the Jedi are you not?"

The Senator took a sip of her wine before beginning to speak smiling for a brief moment before her face contorted back into a frown. She seemed to wear that frown a lot. As if she had no other face to wear.

"I was present at the Battle and I am in close relations with the Jedi, however, my allegiance is ever to the Republic and it's people." She stated sharply. "I have never condoned this war and if there are any such reports that state otherwise they are false. I want this war to end more than most of the other Senators who seem to think it is their job to continue this war as long as they can without any hope of ending.

"They have become such selfish citizens only caring about themselves not the system as a whole. Democracy seems to be dying more and more each day and everyday I wake up with the knowledge that I have almost no power to stop it."

Artier sat down beside of Lubov. He had noticed the seriousness in the Senator's tone and had dropped the food in ready to be here to actual listen to what she had to say rather than listen to it from a recording. When the Senator's first portion of the interview of course was done then they could lay waste to the food and enjoy the odd colored and flowery smelling dishes.

Lubov looked up from her paper feeling herself distracted by emotions and continued to the next question. "I understand your point of view and it seems so rare now that people like you are still around. People like you actually care for the people as a whole rather than for just themselves."

The Senator smiled at her, a real smile, one filled with sympathy and wisdom that she had yet to achieve. "Do not worry, there will come a time for both of us."

"I should hope so," Artier interrupted. "This girls right here makes a mountain out of a mole hill out of everything! I swear we come here and she acts as if her fate is going to be decided in this room right here and now!"

Lubov frowned and turned sharply towards her friend. "You do understand that some of us are not among the elite that can afford to get fired from jobs as quickly as you can. While you are sitting on your ass letting me do all of the work I am actually concerned with my career. And at the moment I think I will leave because this interview is your job, not mine."

The Senator stared at the young couple for a moment before deciding it was none of her business to interfere with what could happen to the young couple. More than likely this was their break up and though she hated to admit it, she hoped she would never have to deal with one of those dreadful things ever again. It was bad enough watching it between two people that are so obviously in love with each other.

Artier refused to say anything for the remainder of the interview allowing Lubov to ask all of the questions in fear that if he said something she would cause him both physical and emotional pain. He lover her and was not going to have himself hurt by her all over the fact that he did not understand the perspectives of the poorer populous.

"Now a few more questions and the interview will be over," Lubov stated looking up at the clock on the wall to double check to make sure she still had enough time to get the last of the questions asked and hopefully answered. "First off, I have to ask you this for an article I am currently working on about Palpatine. Please tell me your opinions on his leadership and whether or not you agree with him and the rest of the Senate on his increased 'executive power'?"

Senator Amidala explained to her that it was not that she did not like his leadership, it was just that he had been in power for far too long and now was beginning to abuse the power that they had given him. They gave him that power to start a war, a war which could have been prevented had she not done anything about rescuing Obi-wan from Count Dooku. It would have all been prevented had she not made such a stupid mistake and here she was now telling a reporter this story.

She was going to get censored of course later, but it did not matter. All that mattered was the fact that she still had well over half an hour left in this interview before she could get back to working on opposition in budget cuts that would cut half the social secruity benefits to the elderly.

Lubov flipped the page rolling her eyes at the next question. She did not want to ask this question to the Senator and she sure as hell was not going to expect an answer from the woman. Artier was not in the room at that very moment and decided to explore what other questions that Artier had managed to pull together on his own.

"Is it true that the people of Naboo nearly had an amendment to the constitution to keep you in office as Queen?" Lubov asked just making stuff up at the lack of good questions.

She could not be sure if that was even true, if it were then she was right and she got herself a bonus for the interview. If it were not true then she would have to edit that portion of the tape out before the editorial staff got that and reported it too Mr. Firefly about her idiotic question!

"Yes," She replied, Lubov silently thanking whatever deity there was for giving her the proper question. "They were going to and I had to decline. To be honest I was very tired of that position and had intentions on leaving and starting a family, however, the queen asked me to serve as senator and here I am."

"You wanted to have a family?" Lubov said in shock.

She had thought this Senator's only issues were political and if that were true then maybe she could casually get that question into the mix. It could work, though she would feel awkward asking her if she wanted to start a family with a Jedi. She was sure that was illegal somewhere.

"Yes, I did and still do," She smiled, and then frowned again. "I do not have time for a personal life and will not until I leave public service."

Lubov smiled and just said. "Do not worry, you will get what you desire. I know that for a fact."

The Senator did nothing but smile back and look at the clock. It was time for the interview and the lunch to be over. Nothing had been asked as far as Anakin Skywalker was concerned and as far as Lubov cared, which she did not, was far from concern.

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Thanks for reading review if you want I don't care like I keep telling you. Hope to get another update soon! :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Coruscant 21 BBY**

**(Morning)**

_And after a sweeping report the journalist Nas Ne Dagonyat that the factory explosion in the neutral region of Hapes has lead to a death tole of nearly 200 has concluded it. Leaving many to wonder if this was simply a melt down in a factory that has not been inspected recently or there is also the case in which it could have been an attack. It makes us wonder in a time of war when even the most neutral of systems seems to get drawn into this war. We must remain strong and fight on in honor of these innocent citizens that have been taken from us so quickly._

The article was written obliviously as a propaganda piece but Lubov was getting paid to write it. It did not matter if it were true or not, or in this case that it was true but a mix of information that she and the board had sown in together to pass for an article. It would be published in the mid-morning news and after that she would be back to writing and listening to reports from Hapes.

It was her home planet, though she dreaded ever going back she still cared deeply for the people of Hapes. She had a duty to keep them in the news and let them know that the republic still understands the fact that there are neutral planetary systems left. And that if they have managed not to get wrapped up in this mess of a war then there was hope for the rest of the galaxy... she at least hoped.

Lubov sighed and looked at the clock. She had only been at work for an hour and had already finished the assignment for the day. What was she supposed to do now? Her research for Palpatine was over and if she was truly desperate for something to do she could always finish what she started late last night on her project. But she was not willing to do that out of sheer boredom. She needed something to do that did not involve herself standing in front of a data-pad for the rest of the day.

Looking over her shoulder checking to make sure her co-workers were distracted she made her way out of the main office area and into the turbo-lift. She was not going to stay there for the rest of the day when she had excuses to get out for the rest of the day and do nothing. This was getting to be a habit she had where if she wanted to leave she would. It was a bad habit but at least she could always say that it had been under good intentions. With the latest assignment that she had been introduced to she had to get interviews and her research done outside of the office. That was the only way was it not?

It was a typical day at best in Coruscant when she stepped out onto the city streets below most of the nicer areas of the planet. The underground was known for two things; people whom you should never talk to and the low life that is produced from years of poverty. This planet was not a nice place to live if you did not have the means to afford it. The rich enjoyed a life of luxury apartments and fine meals, while the people below got themselves a small flat and a few meals a week to sustain themselves.

And what was worse was the fact that she was not allowed discussing the lower levels of Coruscant or any sort of poverty stricken area or else risks her job. She could of course publish else where but what good would that do her name was still on it and even if it were not they would know by her style of writing that it was she would wrote this piece condensing the wealthy members of the republic for using this war to get more credits than they were worth. These people wanted to make sure that these poor citizens stayed that way, while they drank from fine crystal glasses and ate foods that she could never for the life of her pronounce.

The people eventually began to lose clothing as she made her way through the streets of Coruscant. Many women who were more than likely prostitutes aligned the doorways of many bars and stores. All of them dressed in sexy outfits that she would never wear in complete solitude. It was absolutely disgusting to look at those poor girls that had to sell themselves out on the streets because they could not get work elsewhere. They were more than likely going to end up the same way all prostitutes do... being arrested or committing suicide.

Prostitution was legal on some planetary systems, though it was still considered taboo even there. The red light districts of the planets were crawling with legal and illegal sex trade. Many of the girls were forced to be there simply because they were sold into it. Others had turned to it to make a living, and there were some who had just done it because they thought it would be cool to do so. It was considered cool to be a criminal in some regions where crime was high and the rich were ignored. It was culture that led the girls into the business, not much of the sex trade that they sadly other girls had gotten themselves into.

She was not going to write about that, there was not a place for that sort of story to circulate around. The writings on prostitution were not rare it was just that if people wrote about it they had the habit of... disappearing. Plus the people did not want these stories; they want their stories to be on the war rather than on what was happening beneath their feet. It was sad really that they did not see this happening and yet those who did did nothing because they were more concerned with war and not getting murdered or kidnapped!

Though most of the business that was dealt with was more than likely owned by the Hutts who preferred to gamble their way into the market rather than actually focus on the safety of the girls. They were cruel creatures and if she ever got her hands on one of them it would not be a pretty end for anyone that stood in her way from choking that creature. She would more than likely be killed after that but she did not care it was just one less of those monsters to roam the galaxy with their slavery and death stick trades.

Walking around a corner and into a walkway through a rather dark alley she spotted a young couple kissing passionately in front of a dark door way. More than likely she was a prostitute and he was just one of her costumers, but the image was still rather romantic to say the least. Perhaps if she hid she could get a clear shot of the prostitute then get her taken to a woman's heath center. Their she could get food, water, education, and housing. They would take care of her until she got herself back onto her feet and away from the world of prostitution.

There was no risk in this, just another citizen helping another.

She hid behind what appeared to be a pile of fruit in the darkened area. She placed her lens right where she knew she could get the best shot of the prostitute and her costumer. The shot would be easy enough she just had to show the people that this was a real problem and that something had to be done about it. Or at least she could save this one woman from a life of horrible abuse.

As the picture was taken she felt rather uneasy suddenly... as if someone knew she was there and they were going to do something horrible to her. She felt the hair on her neck stand up as she looked slowly behind her. It was not the prostitute, it was not her costumer, and it was Artier.

"What the kriff are you doing here?" Lubov asked scared out of her wits.

"I was looking for you and so I spotted you out her and then followed you," He said getting on his knees beside of her, talking to her in a voice that was barely audible to a mouse. "I was worried that you were still mad at me about what happened yesterday so I followed you here to clear up things."

As if on cue the couple walked into the darkened doorway leaving Lubov curious. She wanted to know what they were going to do besides have sex. Perhaps they were in some sort of relationship maybe they were lovers. It was sheer curiosity that leads her into the doorway. Turning on the infrared camera she quietly and quickly set up the camera there leaving it behind to watch as what was going to happen unfolded.

"I swear what the Hell are you doing Lubov?" Artier whispered as soon as she got back down onto the ground. "Are you crazy what if that whore's madam comes out here and sees you sneaking around?"

Lubov said nothing and focused on the camera screen, she felt slightly perverted watching this but did not care. She was far too into this already to back out. Might as well go into this whole heartily.

She watched the young couple undress each other first the woman and then the man. The woman wore nothing but her panties by then and the man his shorts. They had been wearing rather fancy clothing for peasants. Then man even looked as if he had gotten back from a costume party in which he had dressed like a Jedi. Living out his childhood fantasizes more than likely. She watch as there faces were more clear into the camera, ignoring all stress and anxiety about this situation she zoomed in on their faces trying to get a clear identification on the couple.

As she watched them she suddenly realized who these two people were.

"Artier." Lubov said suddenly.

"Yes," Artier looked at Lubov concerned as ever as he saw a hint of a smile forming on her lips.

"I just bought our ticket to fame." Lubov said looking up into the heaven's thanking whatever deity there was for sending her this at last.

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You should probably know where things are going from here if not then you need help. Anyway, hope you liked it; review and what not.


	9. Chapter 9

**Coruscant 21 BBY**

**(Noon)**

"I just bought our ticket to fame." Lubov said silently thanking whatever deity there was for this gift.

Artier did not say anything just looked at the screen in shock. They were going to be rich, and besides that they were going to cause the biggest scandal in years. This was what they wanted, fame, fortune, and anything else that came along with it, not matter if it ruined the careers of the people in that bedroom. They were not free of what they were capable of and they should have known better than to be here in the first place where a shit ton of people could have been here to film them. It was only a matter of time for those two.

"Kriff, please tell me you are recording this!" Artier said looking at the rather pornographic images.

Lubov slapped his shoulder and said, "Of course, you nerf herder!"

Artier grabbed his shoulder as if he was in pain by her slap. He was going to get revenge on her for that later. Now it did not matter they needed to just sit here quietly and wait for the couple to finish. Perhaps they will even talk? If they have audible proof that would add to their fortune.

"Does this camera have audio?" Artier asked suddenly.

"Yes," Lubov answered rather nonchalantly as if she did not know how important it was for audio evidence.

"Well make sure we have the audio."

"All right," Lubov said as she adjusted the volume as such.

Lubov kept her eyes on the screen to make sure they did not know they were being filmed. The likelihood of them actually noticing would be highly unlikely; they were preoccupied for a better word. At least they could enjoy this one moment of bliss together before their world comes crashing down upon them when she and Artier showed this footage to the world. Even if they were not published through the HoloNet they were going to get this footage out. It would be beneficial for everyone to let this out, especially the Jedi.

Their little poster boy was in there with one of the publicized Senators in the Republic. The media scandal would be nothing when these two were found out. They would be popular with the media as the two forbidden lovers of course, and the people would love them even more. This was what Mr. Firefly wanted, higher ratings and this sure as kriff was going to get the HoloNet higher ratings. They could be shut down for this if the Jedi start to get too involved with their freedom of speech. They had proof; the Jedi should blame them for not teaching their younglings better. If they wanted to blame them then fine, it was not their fault for reporting the truth. Though it would make the Jedi seem like men who could not control themselves and that image could be used to get back at them if something were to go wrong in the war.

Here she was with the fate of the reputation of the Jedi order in her hands and all she could do was smile and think of all of the money that she was going to get from this. No matter what happened she had the money and the fame to do whatever the kriff she wanted to for the rest of her life. Jedi order be damned, she didn't care, all she wanted was the fame, and all the rewards that go along with it. She was human and that's what humans wanted... to be famous and live-forever.

"I feel kind of sick watching this," Artier admitted to Lubov as the couple began to end what they were doing.

"I thought men liked to watch this sort of stuff." Lubov commented with a perverted smile on her face.

"No," Artier said in disgust, he then leaned his head down. "Well at least not all of us."

"Then why are you upset?"

"Because I am about to ruin the reputation of two people that have been nothing but good to us and the republic."

"Artier," Lubov said. "If you want to be a good journalist you are going to have to learn that no matter how this hurts people, everyone else deserves to know. Think of how much trouble these two could cause if we did not bring it out? They could run away from the Republic and leave us when we are going down hill as it is. Do you want that to happen?"

He sighed and said nothing. Afraid to say anything that he would be lashed out at. He knew as well as she knew that this was their one chance to make it out in the galaxy and as far as he could tell she was not going to let that chance be taken without a fight. She wanted this and there was not changing her mind once it was made up.

As the couple ended and they were basically cuddling together for what seemed like hours they actually began to talk to each other about war and politics. Nothing about themselves, they just wanted to talk about the war like everyone else did. No dirty secrets that the rest of the world wanted. Nothing but war and politics like you heard on the HoloNet every hour of everyday for the past year.

"They keep talking about the war," Lubov stated as she gave the other earpiece to Artier. "I wish they'd just come out and say something interesting."

"Well, you can't exactly go in there and ask them to talk about their relationship." Artier countered. "Besides how many couples do you know that talk about anything else but politics and war after having sex with each other."

"I hope that was sarcastic." Lubov retorted.

"Of course," Artier said then stood up slowly checking their surroundings. "We need to get out of here before they catch us watching. Not to be rude to you but I don't want to see what that guy's lightsaber looks like up close."

Lubov said nothing and grabbed her things leaving her camera where it was to record whatever else the couple would decide to say to each other. For now she and Artier were heading to his apartment to get this ready to be published. And no matter what he said she was going to get this published. It did not matter how guilty he felt about it, she wanted to get this out for the world to see. And then again, just a few days ago she was complaining about all the sellouts there were in this world of Journalism and here she was about to sell out to get the fame and credits she desired.

**(Afternoon)**

"Well after about an hour they are actually talking about their relationship." Artier mumbled as Lubov sat down with a few pieces of fruit.

"Anything interesting?" Lubov asked stealing one of the ear phones to be able to hear the couples discussion.

When they had arrived the first thing Lubov had done was stare at the screen, waiting for them to notice the fact that there was a camera there that had filmed them. She could hardly wait until that happened without them knowing that camera did not hold the real data that was involved. She had the data saved onto her data-pad and no one was going to get a hold of it without going through several DNA tests that she had assigned.

Artier had not been so cheery since discovering this was going to destroy to people's reputations and had taken a horrible amount of persuasion to get him back onto her side of thoughts. He was not going to be lead astray all for guilt. That was not how journalism worked. You come in and get the story, at whatever cost. No matter if someone gets hurt or not, they were going to get what they wanted. Nothing could be any about it.

And if Artier was too big of a softy to notice it then he was just doomed for a life of poor quality stories about the same old shit that everyone else reported. Then again what was she worried about him in the first place, he was the one who was rich. She should be more focused on herself rather than what he wants or thinks. This was her story and there was no way he was going to ruin what she had found.

"No not really," Artier said scooting his chair closer to Lubov. "Mostly about how they missed each other and how long they had been apart and all that stuff. I know this though; they have been with each other since the start of the war according to the Senator. And according to Skywalker they have been seeing each other as often as they can since then. It appears they are just having a typical love affair."

"Well that is something," Lubov stated. "We now know they are just not kriff buddies."

"I would hate that relationship." Artier said out of the blue.

"Good for you," Lubov said uninterested in anything he had to say at that moment.

She had to get her attention back onto the there and now with the recording.

"I mean," Artier rambled on. "I love you and all but I would rather have ourselves a relationship not based solely on sex. I mean there is nothing wrong with that... I just you know don't want that between you and I."

"Uh huh," She pretended to listen.

So far the couple had said nothing about their relationship other than to kiss each other and talk about how much they missed each other. No other details surrounding their official relationship status. Whether they were lovers or not was not a big deal they were caught having sex with each other that was enough to get her fame. This was going to be the story of the century.

"You know," Artier continued. "I think we should just get married after all of this is over. I mean I love you and you love me. It makes sense don't you think?"

"Yes," Lubov agreed to whatever he was talking about.

"I am glad we share the same opinion." Artier said happily. "Gosh, we need to have the wedding on Alderann or maybe Hapes if you want. I just don't want it on Corellia, you would have to meet with some of my poorer and queerer relatives that can't afford to travel within five meters of their home."

"I like Hapes," Lubov said.

"Well, I assumed but where to honeymoon?" Artier asked.

Lubov asked what he was talking about after she got the earphones out of her ear. He was talking as if they were going to get married all of a sudden. Had she drawled him out that much? What did he ask her? Did she agree? What the hell was she going to do about this? Lie and say okay to whatever? Or tell him the truth that she had not been listening? Might as well tell the truth.

"Remember, you agreed that we should get married after all of this over and then get married on Hapes." Artier said with a huge smile on his face. "You must not have been listening."

"No," Lubov admitted. "I was more focused on gaining fame than focused on my personal life."

Artier shrugged his shoulders and said nothing more than a quick, "I love you."

Lubov was not going to be bothered by his desires; she had other things on her mind. While he was dreaming stupid dreams she was actually working to gain something so real she could nearly taste it. Her senses were dulled to what she had to deal with, she was far too absorbed in this to take notice of her personal life, or what ever else decided to take a hold of her. Today that was not going to happen, and this time tomorrow she would be the most famous woman in the galaxy.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 9**

**Coruscant 21 BBY **

**(Evening) **

"Artier!" Lubov shouted. "Where are you?"

Lubov felt her anxiety rose high as her stomach rose to the heights of her throat. She felt like she was going to be sick. It was a horrible feeling of both heartburn and panic. She had no idea where Artier had gone and now she could not find her way out of the apartment. She was completely lost and having a panic attack in the middle of it.

As she made her way around the fifth or so hallway she had visited she was beginning to think, and really rather hope, that she had fallen asleep and that this was not really his apartment she was lost in. Her panic was just made worse when she was able to hear Artier call back to her and could not locate his voice. She felt herself becoming small compared to the walls around her, just waiting for them to close around her and be consumed.

Lubov made her way up a stair case silently hoping that this was the way to the kitchen where she knew how to get back from there. If not wherever she would end up would just be another sad location on her trek in Artier's apartment.

When the door was cracked open she found a dark room, this was not the kitchen, and whatever room this was she was not going to go exploring. Her emotions were mixed up enough and now here was a room that could lead her to herself going into shock.

"Artier!" She shouted once more.

All she had done was getting up from editing the footage they had taken earlier to head to the fresher and now here she was in hell knows where? The last time she had been here all she had done was angrily stomp out of the house, and now here she was completely lost and anything but angry.

Her emotions ranged from sadness to just straight out anxiety, praying, waiting to find the way out of this place. She had no idea this place was so big… was this even the same apartment? The one she had been in before had been so much smaller. Perhaps she was dreaming? Otherwise none of this would make sense in the first place.

All she had to do was keep going and eventually she would wake up. Maybe it was just her guilt for letting herself film the innocent senator and her Jedi lover together? No, a true journalist does not hold guilt; they get the story and get out as soon as possible. Besides that she was going to be famous, why did she have to feel guilt for her own success?

Lubov managed to find herself at an intersection. "Artier?"

"Lubov!" He called back from what appeared to be coming from the left.

She did not bother to think through, she just ran as fast as she could following his voice and praying silently that she would get herself out of this kriffing apartment complex. Where the hell had he gotten this place in the first place? _No, this is a dream. _She told herself over and over again. There was no way in the galaxy that Coruscant had luxury apartments the size of mansions.

As soon as she spotted a male figure up ahead she practically flew across the floor and into the arms of the stranger.

She felt herself loosen her hold on reality for a split second as she looked around the apartment to find herself on the floor of Artier's apartment. Artier running towards her as she collapsed to the ground. She was back where she was supposed to be, in Artier's rather small apartment quarters, laying there just staring at the ceiling with a small on her face.

"Lubov can you hear me?" Artier asked as he managed to get her back into her chair.

Lubov just smiled and laughed slightly. Why did he care? Was he after something? Was he after sex again because she was not going to give it to him this time? No matter if he had just saved her from wherever she was. He was not going to get anything out of her… no way in hell.

"Lubov?" Artier asked in general concern. "I leave for ten seconds and come to find you passed out on the floor. What is wrong?"

"You know what's wrong." She giggled slightly. "You were the one who got me lost in your apartment and had me shouting until I finally managed to find you. Why did you leave me there?"

Artier said nothing and just took her hand and led her out of the apartment. He had to get her to medical care for whatever was wrong with her. Hopefully it was nothing more than not eating for several hours, or perhaps she was going through the guilt of letting out the footage in the morning? It did not matter for now; he needed to get her to a hospital before she passed out again.

By the time Artier had managed to get Lubov to the hospital she was already back to her dream world where she got herself lost in the maze that was, or what she believed to be was, Artier's apartment. She could see nothing other than the doors and the lights of the hospital emergency room as Artier and a team of nurses and doctors attended to her, bringing her into a room where she was studied further.

* * *

**(Early morning)**

"She passed out when we were in my apartment." Artier explained to the human nurse. "I am quite fearful for her, she had been acting strange since yesterday morning."

The nurse sighed and looked at her documents. The young woman was going to be fine, she could see that by all of the test results that she had gotten back. This woman was just under stress and would need to take anxiety medication for the next few months before they reviewed her further. They had gone through all the necessary procedures to determine that she was just under stress and that this medication would be the best thing for her.

"She will be fine," The nurse said to the girl's boyfriend? "She just needs to be looked after for a little while. And please make sure you have her take her medication."

"I will." He stated with little hesitation.

The nurse led Artier into Lubov's hospital room where they found her sleeping, relaxed by the many anti-anxiety drugs going through her system. She was going to be fine, at least he could say that to himself.

"How long do you think she will be asleep?" Artier asked as he sat down beside of her bed.

"Within the next hour or two." The nurse said leaving the two alone for sometime.

She had more important things to deal with rather than a worried boyfriend fretting over his girlfriend's anxiety. It was completely normal for a woman to go through periods of anxiety. Passing out maybe not, but it was still normal for a woman of her condition to be anxious, no matter how early along she is. This boy just needed to learn how to deal with her for the time being.

Lubov awoke an hour later with the dim lights above her slowly becoming brighter. She was in the hospital; that was all she could recall from the previous night. The most she could remember was passing out and Artier taking her to the hospital more than likely afterwards.

"Oh thank goodness, you are awake." Artier muttered.

He felt her forehead and then wrapped his arms awkwardly around her. Lubov felt herself tense, why was he still here? She could understand him staying for a little while longer just to be sure she was okay, but why was he here? He knew she was fine and he could leave. He did not have to make it anymore awkward than it already was.

Where was her family? Had they not been notified that she was in the hospital? Where was Tala? Why was it that Artier the only person who was here?

"I was beginning to think you were going to be asleep forever." Artier said kissing her cheek shortly after.

"Why are you touching me?" Lubov asked with a disgusted look on her face.

"Because you've scared the shit out of me and I deserve to know you are all right." Artier said in a more serious tone than she would have expected out of him. "Never do that to me again please."

"I won't." She stated looking over the room for a clock. "What time is it?"

"It doesn't matter," Artier said. "What does matter is that you are all right and that everything goes okay."

Lubov did not reply to this, simply obeyed and put her head back down onto the pillow. Feeling the soft comfort of an inanimate object that could do nothing for her to fear.

"I love you Lubov," Artier stated with a smile, while putting his hand over hers. "I promise to protect you with my life."

Lubov looked down at her hand, the thought of him loving her disgusted her to say the least. She had nearly vomited when they made love nearly two weeks ago and she had found out. She did not want to do anything with Artier other than be his friend. The thought of them doing anything besides just talking and laughing together brought these horrible feelings into her stomach; as if she were going to throw up everywhere if this feeling did not go away from her.

She turned to Artier and just faked a smile. She was not going to tell him anything until she well again. She did not want to waste energy on telling him the truth when lying saved them both time and energy.

"I take that as 'I love you, too'." Artier said placing a kiss to her forehead.

She felt herself desire to slap him and never have him touch her again but she wanted to him to be around. He was her friend. She did not want to lose him just because she did not love him in a romantic sort of way. She loved Artier, but she was unwilling to explain to him her love for him. Her love was different, and if he was going to understand it was going to be a long couple of weeks.

* * *

**(Morning)**

"Now here are your medications." The doctor said to Lubov as she was prepped to leave the hospital. "I have here an anti-anxiety drug that is perfectly safe to take under your conditions. And here are some vitamins that I suggest you begin taking."

The doctor gave her the list of medications. Lubov took the list from his hands and put it into her pocket without bothering to look at it, she was going to take the medication anyway, it did not matter the name of the drug did it?

"Thank you," Lubov said at last as the doctor got up to leave her alone with Artier once more.

"Your welcome my dear," He said with a smile. "I will get the droids on your discharge papers."

Lubov smiled back as he left the room. He was a nice old, human, man. He was not going to bother her with any unnecessary questions and above all she did not have to hear him tell her that she was doing too much. She already knew what her faults were, why should anyone tell her?

"I am glad we are able to get you home so early." Artier said at last sitting beside of Lubov on the examination table. "At first I thought you would have to stay in here for the next two or so weeks."

"Thank goodness," She agreed. "We need to get back to work as soon as possible."

Artier frowned suddenly.

"Lubov we do not have to go back to work," Artier stated reaching out for her hand only for her to pull it away. "I think it is for the best that you rest for a few days then go back to work. We have plenty of time before we can release the article. Besides that, I assure you I can afford to give you the money you need while you are recovering."

"You are not my father Artier!" Lubov stated sharply. "I do not want, nor do I need you money. Please understand that though you may love me, truly love me. I do not share those feelings."

Artier seemed heartbroken at her words. He did not say anything, the only thoughts on his mind were of Lubov. Lubov had been one of the few friends he had had in so long and now here he was having to leave her after only such a short time all because he let his feelings get in the way. She never going to love him the way he loved her, their relationship started weeks ago and now here it ended with himself retreating back to his grandfather's restaurant like a little kid.

Lubov was left alone in her hospital room putting on her shoes when the doctor came back in. He gave her the discharge papers in which she had to sign. The paper just said that she was here because of stress and that now she was fine and healthy. And now here she was ready to go back to her apartment and get her work done... She left her things at Artier's apartment. How was she supposed to go back and get those things when here she was trying to avoid the very person she had just so blandly hurt.

How was she supposed to go to his apartment without causing more heartbreak?

The doctor turned to Lubov somehow sensing her discomfort and anxiety. He put his hand on her left shoulder and smiled. "Don't worry things will get better I promise you."

"Thank you," Lubov stated with a shy smile. "I just wish that it were true."

"It will come true," The doctor said with a wide smile. "He will come back for you I assure you. What father abandons the mother of their child so easily?"

_No, that can't be true! Please oh God do not let that be true! _Lubov thought panicked and feeling her stomach contents begin to rise.

"What?" Lubov asked looking suddenly at the ceiling.

The light of the ceiling meshed into beautiful colors of white and gray as her world once again faded to black.

* * *

May the Fourth be with you. :D

Review and stuff. Hopefully will get another chapter up before final exams. My teachers think it is a good job to load you down with research projects towards the end of the year so you stay sleep deprived. I swear... anyway, bye! :)


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 10**

**Coruscant 21 BBY**

**(Noon)**

Lubov felt herself rise into a cold room surrounded by people. She was unsure of where she was or what had just happened. All that she knew was that the doctor had told her something that had made her faint. Was she still in the hospital?

The light became clearer as her vision came back to her. She found herself staring at a room with Artier, the doctor, and her parents in the room. They were all talking about something she could not hear from so far away. How did her parent's end up here so fast? And when did Artier forgive her? Why were they not paying attention to her? Was she dead and this was a spirit form of herself thinking and seeing? No, she needed to be more realistic.

"What happened?" Lubov said in a rather rough voice.

"Oh, Thank goodness you are awake," Her parents said as they both practically ran across the room to hug their daughter.

Her mother kissed her face and hugged her tightly while her father talked to her about how worried they were and how they had been forced onto an emergency transport when they learned of what happened the day before. They talked of how she had overreacted as always to silly things and now how she had gotten herself stuck in a hospital for the next week for observation. They were even thinking of putting her into a mental hospital just in case.

As her parents calmed down Artier was allowed to get near her once more. He had a horrible look to his face, his eyes were red, his face was pale, it looked as if he had gone through Hell and back during however long she had been out. She felt her guilt rise... this was her fault for telling him that she did not feel for him. She should have lied and told him that she loved him and that she would do anything to keep their friendship permanent. But it was too late, now here she was back in a hospital bed with her worries rising ever so slowing up.

"I'm sorry," Lubov whispered, feeling her eyes water.

This was her fault. She should have lied. She should have lied. How could she have done this to someone?

"It's all right," Artier said softly, grabbing hold of her hand. "This is my fault really,"

"No, it's not," Lubov countered. "It is my fault for getting so worked up. I am sorry I promise not to over work myself any longer."

Artier just smiled slightly. "I meant about the other reason why you are here?"

"What other reason?" Lubov asked curiously, feeling her anxiety rise suddenly.

Was she dying? Was she headed to the mental hospital? What was going to happen to her? She had to calm down, she might pass out again. She had to calm down before something bad happened to her. She had to calm down.

Artier smiled and kissed her cheek. "You can't remember can you?"

"What?" Lubov asked. "Am I being sent to the mental asylum?"

He laughed slightly at her worries. Why was he laughing at her? Was she going and he was just trying to down play the issue? No, there was something he was hiding from her! Whatever it was he was going to get it out of him before he kept playing these silly games.

"No," Artier said through a laugh. "You are going to sure feel like you are crazy in a few months. Lubov you are pregnant."

Lubov stared at him for a long moment. The room was silent other than her parent's and the doctor's whispers in the corner of the room. She could not respond to this. She was pregnant... how was she going to support this child? She could afford it yes, but this was going to be a horrible time for the child to grow up in. She would have liked to at least wait until the end of the war... or at least after she had released the videotape. No, she would rather have never gotten pregnant in the first place. She did not want children, and this child had been of course conceived at the most incorrect time in the galaxy.

"Force." Lubov muttered. "How can they tell?"

"Hormone check, and this weird stick thing they stuck up your..."

"No!" Lubov said attempting to slap his shoulder before he moved away from her hand.

"Ha-ha," Artier said. "I have the upper hand!"

Lubov smiled. "Not when I get out of this bed you don't!"

The pair laughed for a second things appearing to go back to normal for what felt like only minutes. Her parents came over and began to fuss over her and they knew she would end up with a man. They kept telling her about how happy they were about becoming grandparents. While Lubov herself was unsure of how she was going to be a mother. She had plenty of experience caring for her younger brother, however, this was different. She could not just hand the child over to her parents when she got tired, this was permanent. And there was no way to think any differently.

"So have you both thought about marriage?" Her mother asked at last.

"Yes," Lubov answered before Artier could but into the conversation. "I think what would be best is if we get married after the baby is born. This way I am not a pregnant emotional wreck for all of you to deal with."

They laughed at her comment. She was unsure of why, she was being serious in fact. How were they not supposed to know that she had no plans on getting married while pregnant. She wanted to wear a normal wedding dress, not one meant for fatter women.

"I agree," Her father said at last. "Plus we don't want to have anything going wrong for you, you are under enough stress as it is."

Artier said nothing other than just kiss Lubov on the cheek, smiling widely when she had agreed to get married to him. He wanted that, and he was just thankful that at last she wanted that too. It was rather sad that they had to get married for the sake of the child, however, it did not matter, they were to be married and he would wait until their baby was born to get married its mother.

"Well, we can get planning on the wedding later," Lubov said at last. "I think it is more important to plan for the kid first at this point."

"Yes," Artier agreed. "We also need to think about living arrangements and whether or not you want to have the child here on Coruscant or Hapes."

"Hapes," Lubov said quickly. "I want to be somewhere I believe is safer. Coruscant is not a place for children anyway."

"All right," Her parents said. "And you are going to quit your job here and move back home?"

"Yes," Lubov said thinking back to her resent discovery.

Her child would grow up wealthy when they released the videotape to everyone in the galaxy. The thoughts were exciting, making her long to get it done as quickly as possible and have the money before the child was bigger than a bean. She could not help but smile at the thought of her wearing clothing even the Queen Mother would be envious of. She would own a lovely house on Hapes and three or four others on random other planets. All she needed now was release the video, if and only if Artier would let her work on it that is.

(evening)

"We are going to keep you over night again just to make sure we don't have to send you to another facility." The doctor stated giving her a run down of what was going to happen to her. "If all checks out we can send you home, though you will be on bed rest for a while."

"All right," Lubov nodded to the doctor as he left her a chart that allowed to see what types of medications and treatments he was recommending she take for her anxiety and pregnancy.

The list was not long, though she already could see her medical bills racking up. And this was only the beginning of course, she would have to spend more on getting ready for the baby, then paying hospital bills, and finally paying for doctors visits for the child after it is born. Of course she could just put that cost towards Artier, and ignore all else.

"Sweetheart, we are going to be staying at your apartment this evening if you do not mind." Her father interrupted her thoughts. "We should be back in the morning before you check out of here all right?"

"All right," Lubov said smiling at her father as he ruffled her hair in a playful way. "Though please be mindful of the mess in the fresher, I have not had a chance to clean in about two weeks. So don't be surprised if you see any random hairs lying around."

Her father smiled at her and left the room leaving her alone with her mother and Artier as company, her mother of course had to stay to say good bye to her daughter. After their conversation the only person left would be Artier and he was already fast asleep in a hospital chair. He was tired from staying up late into the night panicking about Lubov and all the while pacing like she had done the day before. At least now he knew that Lubov was in good health and would be on medication for her worries for a while to come.

"I am so glad you finally met the right man." Lubov's mother stated quickly, sitting at the end of her hospital bed. "I was beginning to think you were letting your fantasies of other girls get into the way of what is important in life..."

"Mother," Lubov interrupted. "Please understand that the most important thing in my life is my job and education. That is what girls are supposed to be focused on, not finding a husband like you seem to think. Your view on Hapan culture has always been terrible and this has proved my point of view that you think things should be backwards."

"Don't talk to me like that," Her mother countered. "I am well versed in this so called, 'Hapan culture' there is no culture, the only thing there is, are a whole population of women too focused on education rather than what is truly important in life..."

"Like finding a husband." Lubov stated rolling her eyes at her mother. "Mother your views do not fit and your thoughts on women are incorrect. Women are much more capable of what you give us. No not us, every female but you. You seem to think that it is the only desire of every woman to have children and to get married. And sadly in your case, though perfectly fine in everyone else's, is not what every woman wants. Mother please rethink what you believe in before trying to make a case. Women are more capable of doing things than men, and if you think we need to be subordinate to males then you are incorrect. Then again most of what you have always told me has been incorrect. Why am I even bothering with this conversation?"

Her mother stared at her daughter hard for barely a second before leaving as if her statement hurt her. What was she going to do? Go crying to her father? He knew Lubov was right, he was brought up with the knowledge that women were better and here was his wife wanting to be the lesser of the two sexes. Completely against tradition yet her father loved her for whatever reasons it was.

Lubov sighed as she say her parents talking outside the door of the hospital room. Her mother of course was pissed off and yelling at her father about what she had said to her. While her father was just pretending to listen as was always the case. Her relationship with her mother was a complicated one, though she loved her, she was not one to be likened to. Even on Hapes she got into these arguments of culture so often that they basically shunned her at parties in fear that she would make them spend all of the time with their husbands, rather than with their same sex.

She looked over at Artier one last time before deciding to go to sleep her. He seemed to be at peace with himself. And he would hopefully stay that way for the rest of the week or at least until she got caught working on gaining fame.

* * *

Just had to update the grammar on this. Goodness, I have a software on my computer that is supposed to filter out grammar mistakes. It doesn't work as well as I thought. Anyway, not going to be getting a new update soon. Exams are coming up for me and I have to study Chemistry. There is still a chance I might pass! :D Anyway, may the force be with you!


	12. Chapter 12

Hello! I'd like to thank my reviewers and just say I would not have continued this story had it not been for you! BTW hope you like longer chapters because this sure is! :)

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**Coruscant 21 BBY **

**(Morning)**

"Can I go home now?" Lubov asked the doctor soon after awaking from her sleep.

"We are going to let you go after breakfast." The doctor said with a friendly smile on his humanoid face. "After that we will have regular appointments to get you and the baby in perfect health before the birth. All right?"

"All right," Lubov said. "Now, when do I need to make the first appointment?"

"I have it set up already for you," He assured her handing her a note with the date and the time on it. "It is always nice to do something nice for others, even when it is something you would have ended up doing anyway right?"

"Of course," Lubov nodded. "Now especially it is getting rarer and rarer that we are actually trying to help each other and now just focus on the war that seems to have taken away our sense of helping."

The doctor smiled at the young woman for a moment. "I will see you at the next appointment Miss Markova."

"Thank you," She replied as the older man walked out of the room readying himself for the next patient he had to talk to.

Lubov straightened herself in bed and looked at Artier still sound asleep in his chair. Both of them waiting for her parents to arrive and take them back to her apartment. Her parents would more than likely stay with her for the next couple of days while she got readjusted. After that her parents would leave her and Artier for the next couple of months before she and Artier made the journey to Hapes to set up their new life together. The plan was in place already.

Nearly an hour later her parents had arrived both of them looking extremely happy to see their daughter shockingly happier than the night before. She was going to go home today, they knew that was the cause of part of her happiness. Even she could not hide the fact that she was happy of her recent discovery.

"Well, I will get you packed," Her mother offered seeming to forget the conversation that they had had the night before.

Her father said nothing and just moved over to wake Artier. Lubov had not had a heart to get him up yet; he was just going to nap there until they had to leave. He would wake up to find them all ready to leave while he was still trying to wake up from his nice sleep. It was humorous sight had her father not yet woken him. The boy would have to learn to wake up at random hours of the night to help with the baby. Hopefully he would get himself out of the heavy sleeping phase of life within the next eight or so months. If he did not Lubov would end up killing him out of exhaustion.

Artier awoke with a start, seeing Lubov's mother helping her daughter get dressed into something besides the hospital gown before they could leave. Her father sat beside of him reading over his daughter's papers to double check things before they got a chance to leave. From what he knew of her parents, the two seemed to care deeply for their daughter, while she couldn't care less about what they wanted for her. It seemed to be the way with most children, they rebel against their parents simply because they can. It is not because they hate them, no never that, it was because they wanted to.

"Will she be able to leave this morning?" Artier asked Lubov's father quickly.

"Yes," He replied. "Hopefully we can get her out of here within the next half hour. Then we can go out and get breakfast together."

"Sounds like a plan." Artier said with a smile on his face, returning his attention to Lubov and her mother.

Lubov sat again on the bed as her mother helped her get into a red short sleeved shirt meant for warmer weather. She would normally complain about her mother babying her, but she did not care, she was in the hospital and for once she was going to allow her to do whatever her mother wanted to do with her. As she pulled on a short black skirt her mother helped her into her shoes tying the laces for her daughter like she did when she was a little girl. The sight giving her mother the satisfaction of still being a mother towards Lubov. Her little girl still needed her.

"Well, let's run a brush through your hair." Her mother said going to her bag to pull out a hairbrush.

Lubov said nothing and allowed her mother to run the brush through her long red hair. Her mother had not brushed her hair for her since she was a teenager, no perhaps not a teenager but a child? For once she was allowing her mother to do everything for her and this was the first time in a long time that she did not care if it gave her mother the upper hand over her. It was something that her mother was willing to do and what she was too tired to do herself.

When her mother finished a nurse came in and unhooked Lubov from several machines allowing her to be free of the needles that had been placed within her arms over the past few days to regulate her blood sugar. Saying a brief thank you to the nurse as she was finally allowed to stand up freely without the fear of wires getting in the way of her walking.

"Are we going home?" Lubov asked as soon as her mother and father had gotten her bags together.

"We thought you would like to get breakfast," Her father said. "Artier says there is a nice place nearby that serves all of your favorites."

Lubov simply smiled and said, "Sounds wonderful."

She wanted to go home and get some work done. She had not been able to get anything done for the past three days and now here she was behind schedule! She had to get back on track or else she would risk getting fired! Hold on, why was she worried? She had the video, she had the video that would make up for the days that she missed! That would make up for whatever else she did over those three days! Artier grabbed her hand and led her and her parents out of the hospital and through the streets of Coruscant towards the restaurant.

* * *

**(9:00 a.m)**

"So where did you two meet?" Lubov's mother asked while they sat waiting for their meal to arrive.

Artier simply smiled at Lubov's mother, he could not understand why Lubov did not like her. She was a charming woman who seemed to always be ready to have a chat with anyone who was willing to listen. She had even said she would pay for their meal if she found she liked him. And of course she had already begun to like him, no woman in their right mind would dislike him. He even managed to get a lesbian to love him on top of that. Further proof that he was a lady charmer after all.

"We met at work." Lubov answered for the couple.

"Really?" Her mother asked not bothering to look at her daughter, she was too focused on the man that would become her son-in-law in a year. "Did you too just see each other and know you were in love? Or did you both just casually meet up until now?"

"Casually meet up until now," Lubov said again taking a sip of her water. "I thought he was an asshole to be honest the first time I meet him. He just kept calling me freckles, as if I were a cat."

"You have freckles," Artier stated, poorly defending himself in an argument he had no idea where it was going. "I could have called you red and you would have still be pissed off."

Lubov smiled and looked away from the table for a moment searching the large restaurant for their waiter. The sooner he got here the sooner the conversation would end. And that was always the goal when eating with her, get the food quick this way she did not have to discuss anything more about whatever topic they were discussing. She could not stand her mother's conversation topic and all she had to do next was bring up the topic of religion and she would end up back in the hospital for this time threatening to kill her mother. Those little things that her mother did to her set her off, she did not know what it was about her mother that set her off, but it was there.

She could only hope that she did not have this relationship with her own child. It would be horrible to see that happen, then again she would never push her child to make a decision that was not right for him or her. She would be lucky if the child was not a girl, but she knew if she thought that the child would end up being a girl and worse yet be just like her grandmother. Only caring about what others thought of her, and above all that her only purpose in life was to find a husband. She would never end up like that she prayed.

"Artier," Lubov said suddenly. "I think I need to tell you something."

"And that would be?" Artier asked more focused on the conversation he was having with his future in-laws than his actual fiance.

"I know it's a girl." Lubov stated.

"That's good," Artier said with a smile on his face. "If we had a boy we'd end up running each other mad. Gosh, we would be lucky if you were right."

Lubov's parent's laughed at this for a moment before her father said. "Well Lubov was a good little girl, though her teenage years were something! We caught her sneaking out of the house twice to go to girlfriend's houses on several occasions. Most of the time though she was a good girl and did as she was told."

"Good," Artier said, suddenly smiling. "Force if she ended up like me I am going to have to buy seven clone troopers just to keep the boys away from her."

The table laughed together at Artier's joke, or what they hoped was just a joke.

"To tell you the truth son," Lubov's father said. "When Lubov was born I was nearly tempted to steal a lightsaber off of a Jedi just to keep all the boys away. Thankfully though that did not happen, though if you hurt my daughter in anyway, I will steal a lightsaber and cut off yours."

Artier's face went deathly pale while Lubov bursted out laughing at her father's comment causing half the restaurant to stare at the group curiously. Her father was serious, she knew that for a fact, and all he had to do was threaten and there would be no such thing as a bad boy around her ever again.

A waiter came by a few minutes later handing them their breakfast. Artier remained pale while Lubov managed to stop her laughter to begin eating her meal. The tension that was there before was gone now, and it appeared that everything for the next several hours would go smoothly... at least she hoped it would.

* * *

**(Noon) **

"I like your father," Artier said as he and Lubov went into Lubov's bedroom alone. "He's exactly how I'd like to be in the future, very comedic and serious all at the same time. I hope you can put up with me like that though."

Lubov simply smiled and pulled open the curtains of her bedroom letting in the sun light. She found the bedroom the way she had left it, the bed half way made up, a few pairs of underwear lying every which way on the floor, and her data-pad sitting on her bed. Her bedroom was small, her apartment was small, but it didn't matter anymore, she was going to be getting out of here soon. Once she released the video with Artier she could afford to live in rich penthouses with views of the whole planet. The dream of being rich was nearly in her grasps, if only she could convince Artier of it.

"He is very kind." Lubov stated. "Most men on Hapes are very kind and easy going, it is not in our culture for men to be driving forces in the way the government works. Men are meant to be seen not heard. It is the nature of things, rarely do men think otherwise. And if they do we can prove them wrong."

"I have heard Hapes was like that." Artier said looking around her bedroom. "I suppose men are not allowed to do much of anything aren't they?"

"No, of course not." Lubov said as she sat down on her bed. "Men are not our equals, and when you arrive on Hapes you will understand the way things are."

"They seem backwards to me." Artier said. "I mean things are supposed to be where men are better than women not the other way around."

Artier sat down on the bed next to Lubov while she rolled over onto her back for comfort.

"It is backwards to me in your society that you see men as better." Lubov stated. "It is culture, nothing more, though if you want to debate me, then please talk to that wall over there while I get some rest."

"Are you tired?" Artier asked.

"No," Lubov sighed putting an arm over her face to block out the sunlight that was managing to travel through her bedroom windows at this time of the afternoon.

"Then what's wrong?"

"I am thinking."

"About what?"

"Stuff,"

"About stuff?"

"Yes, stuff. Like the stuff that we need to start thinking about. Jobs, child care, homes, incomes, savings accounts, life insurance, and all that stuff that comes along with parenthood and marriage." Lubov said with a sigh towards the end. "So much to get done, so little time to do it in."

"Well, we have nine months." Artier said. "We don't need to worry about it now, we can worry about it later when the kid is actually here to be cared for."

"We need to get jobs before that."

"Lubov you already know I am wealthy, it doesn't much matter if we work or not, I still have two billion credits in my bank account."

"Two billion credits?" Lubov said in shock. "I knew you were rich but that rich?"

"Yes," Artier said with a smile that soon faded. "Let's just say the business is not just food."

"What do you deal in Death sticks too?" Lubov asked remembering the words of that creepy old man from nearly three weeks ago.

"If I told you I would have to kill you." Artier stated sharply.

"Wow," Was all she could manage to say.

"Just don't tell anyone!" Artier said grabbing her hand tightly. "If my grandfather finds out you know about the business you can go ahead and say good bye to me now. I would end up dead."

"So this explains why you move around so much." Lubov said with her hand still clasped in Artiers. "I figured it was something bad but death sticks?"

"Yes," Artier said lying down next to her on the rather small bed. "Don't worry I don't do drugs, it is just business."

"I would have assumed that." Lubov said with a smile on her face. "Are you going to give up this business or are you going to keep it up after the kid is born?"

"I was planning on..." Artier trailed off when there was a loud crash that came from the living room.

"What the kriff was that?" Lubov asked suddenly springing out of bed and running down the hall.

Lubov walked into her parents looking over the shelves looking for whatever had fallen. They seemed to have no idea what it was either and by the time Artier had managed to get Lubov back into her bedroom the whole living room suddenly went up in flames.

Artier wasted no time in taking Lubov by the hand and leading her out of her apartment and into the streets of Coruscant not bothering to explain to her what was going on or why they had just left her parents up there to burn in a fire. She was going to hear on the news about her parent's dying wasn't she? Her parent's were dead? No, they couldn't be dead, this was a dream. It had to be a dream... wasn't it.

Before she had another word to say Artier forced her into a speeder and drove away from the apartment as fast as he could manage.

"What the kriff is going on?" Lubov asked him frantically.

Artier said nothing and kept driving through the mid day traffic. He did not even seem to care that her parents were more than likely just murdered. Or the fact they would be questioned about their involvement in the murders and now here she was without a thought other than what the fuck had just happened? Her parents were dead, Artier was a drug lord, and here she was just a journalist. What the fuck had happened over the past few days to get her into this shape?

* * *

Wow, I wrote that in under two hours while on break from my research project. I doubt there will be another update for a while with exams coming up and projects coming in every direction. Anyway, thanks for the support see you all next time! :)


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